Mechanism for rapid passive-dynamic prey capture in a pitcher plant

Mechanism for rapid passive-dynamic prey capture in a pitcher plant.

Plants use rapid movements to disperse seed, spores, or pollen and catch animal prey. Most rapid-release mechanisms only work once and, if repeatable, regaining the prerelease state is a slow and costly process. We present an encompassing mechanism for a rapid, repeatable, passive-dynamic motion used by a carnivorous pitcher plant to catch prey. Nepenthes gracilis uses the impact of rain drops ...

Bacteria facilitate prey retention by the pitcher plant Darlingtonia californica.

Bacteria are hypothesized to provide a variety of beneficial functions to plants. Many carnivorous pitcher plants, for example, rely on bacteria for digestion of captured prey. This bacterial community may also be responsible for the low surface tensions commonly observed in pitcher plant digestive fluids, which might facilitate prey capture. I tested this hypothesis by comparing the physical p...

Effect of pitcher age on trapping efficiency and natural prey capture in carnivorous Nepenthes rafflesiana plants.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Nepenthes pitchers are sophisticated traps that employ a variety of mechanisms to attract, capture and retain prey. The underlying morphological structures and physiological processes are subject to change over the lifetime of a pitcher. Here an investigation was carried out on how pitcher properties and capture efficiency change over the first 2 weeks after pitcher opening....

Correction to 'Bacteria facilitate prey retention by the pitcher plant Darlingtonia californica'.

Capture mechanism in Palaeotropical pitcher plants (Nepenthaceae) is constrained by climate.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Nepenthes (Nepenthaceae, approx. 120 species) are carnivorous pitcher plants with a centre of diversity comprising the Philippines, Borneo, Sumatra and Sulawesi. Nepenthes pitchers use three main mechanisms for capturing prey: epicuticular waxes inside the pitcher; a wettable peristome (a collar-shaped structure around the opening); and viscoelastic fluid. Previous studies h...