A vegetarian carnivorous plant

Date:

December 19, 2014

Source:

Oxford University Press

Summary:

Carnivorous plants catch and digest tiny animals in order and derive benefits for their nutrition. Interestingly the trend towards vegetarianism seems to overcome carnivorous plants as well. The aquatic carnivorous bladderwort, which can be found in many lakes and ponds worldwide, does not only gain profit from eating little animals but also by consuming algae and pollen grains.

Continued ...

Carnivorous plant species glow blue to lure prey

By Michelle Warwicker, BBC Nature

Some carnivorous plants act as blue "fluorescent lamps" to lure prey, according to scientists in India.

The research team discovered blue fluorescent emissions from the plants' "capture spots" when tested in ultraviolet (UV) light.

Carnivorous plants are known to attract insects with nectar, colours and smells.

But the alluring blue glow reveals a new prey capture mechanism in some species, according to the findings.

The study, published in the journal Plant Biology, was carried out by scientists from Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.

"These distinct blue emissions were so far not known in carnivorous prey traps," said research team member Dr Sabulal Baby.

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study reporting such strong and distinct fluorescence emissions in the plant kingdom."

Significant signals

The team found the blue emissions, caused by molecular mechanisms, in "prey traps" of pitcher plants Nepenthes and Sarracenia and in Venus flytraps (Dionaea muscipula).

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/21459520

Carnivorous Plants Employ Bodyguard Ants

Carnivorous plants can have valuable allies in ants, benefiting from their poop and janitor, bodyguard and cutthroat services, researchers say.

The carnivorous pitcher plant Nepenthes bicalcarata dwells in the nutrient-poor peat swamp forests of Borneo. It is not a very effective carnivore by itself — its pitcher-shaped leaves lack the slippery walls and viscous, elastic and strongly corrosive fluid that make those of its relatives such effective deathtraps.

However, N. bicalcarata does apparently have unusual support on its side — the antCamponotus schmitzi. The carnivorous plant has swollen tendrils at the base of each pitcher that serve as homes for the insects, and a food source in the form of nectar secreted on the pitcher rims.

In return, the ants apparently provide a host of services for the pitcher plants. They clean the pitcher mouth to keep it slippery enough to help catch prey. They attack weevils that would otherwise munch on the plant. They cart off the remains of large prey from the pitchers that would otherwise rot. They lie in ambush under pitcher rims and systematically attack any of the plant's prey that attempt to escape the traps. And their droppings fertilize the plants. 

Still, while it seemed that both pitcher plants and ants benefited from this alliance, investigators lacked hard evidence. It could be the case that only the ants profited.

Now scientists have compared both ant-inhabited and uninhabited plants, finding those with ants fared much better than ones without.

Continued:  http://www.livescience.com/20192-carnivorous-plants-employ-bodyguard-ants.html

'Worm-Eating' Underground Leaves Discovered in Carnivorous Plant

Sticky underground leaves help a Brazilian plant to capture and digest worms, a hitherto unknown way for carnivorous plants to catch victims, scientists find.

The rare plant Philcoxia minensis is found in the tropical savannahs of Brazil, areas rich in biodiversity and highly in need of conservation. Although some of the plant's millimeter-wide leaves grow above ground as expected, strangely, most of its tiny,sticky leaves lie beneath the surface of the shallow white sands on which it grows.

"We usually think about leaves only as photosynthetic organs, so at first sight, it looks awkward that a plant would place its leaves underground where there is less sunlight," said researcher Rafael Silva Oliveira, a plant ecologist at the State University of Campinas in Brazil. "Why would evolution favor the persistence of this apparently unfavorable trait?"

Read more at:  http://www.livescience.com/17812-underground-leaves-carnivorous-plants.html

Researchers suspected the mysterious subterranean leaves ofPhilcoxia minensis and its relatives were used to capture animals. They share a number of traits with known carnivorous plants — for instance, Venus flytraps possess leaves covered in glands with protruding stalks that help the plant detect prey. Like P. minensis, Venus flytraps also live in nutrient-poor soils, which is apparently why they seek out prey in the first place.