Insect-Plant Relationships of the Insectivorous Pitcher Plant Sarracenia minor

Fish, Durland

doi:10.2307/3493973

Cited by 15 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…If so, high herbivory, in addition to high light and low nutrient levels could have been one of the environmental conditions facilitating the evolution of insect attraction and botanical carnivory. Moreover, some pitcher plants (e.g., S. minor and S. rubra) are ant specialists (Fish 1976;Givnish 1989) in spite of the fact that alternate prey such as small dipterans are abundant and capture rates for ants may be lower than for many other insects (Newell and Nastase 1998). If ants provide indirect defensive benefits to pitcher plants, then such specialization would confer distinct selective advantages, particularly in high herbivory environments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…For some species of carnivorous plants, particularly pitcher plants that produce relatively small pitchers such as Sarracenia minor, Sarracenia purpurea, and Sarracenia rubra (Sarraceniaceae), ants comprise the majority of insects attracted and captured (Fish 1976;Rymal and Folkerts 1982;Newell and Nastase 1998;Meyer et al 2001). These insect prey are generally believed to provide an indispensable nutritional supplement to the plants (Plummer and Kethley 1964;Cresswell 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Ants provide nutritional and defensive benefits to the carnivorous plant Sarracenia minor

et al. 2010

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Ants can have important, but sometimes unexpected, effects on the plants they associate with. For carnivorous plants, associating with ants may provide defensive benefits in addition to nutritional ones. We examined the effects of increased ant visitation and exclusion of insect prey from pitchers of the hooded pitcher plant Sarracenia minor, which has been hypothesized to be an ant specialist. Visitation by ants was increased by placing PVC pipes in the ground immediately adjacent to 16 of 32 pitcher plants, which created nesting/refuge sites. Insects were excluded from all pitchers of 16 of the plants by occluding the pitchers with cotton. Treatments were applied in a 2 x 2 factorial design in order to isolate the hypothesized defensive benefits from nutritional ones. We recorded visitation by ants, the mean number of ants captured, foliar nitrogen content, plant growth and size, and levels of herbivory by the pitcher plant mining moth Exyra semicrocea. Changes in ant visitation and prey capture significantly affected nitrogen content, plant height, and the number of pitchers per plant. Increased ant visitation independent of prey capture reduced herbivory and pitcher mortality, and increased the number of pitchers per plant. Results from this study show that the hooded pitcher plant derives a double benefit from attracting potential prey that are also capable of providing defense against herbivory.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Ants provide nutritional and defensive benefits to the carnivorous plant Sarracenia minor

et al. 2010

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“…Among the dipterans inhabiting the axils of Eryngium, only free-swimming predators were recorded. Khoo (1984;cited in Kitching 2004) mentions that the larvae of periscelid Stenomicra are specialized predators in the axils of bromeliads, subsequently Fish (1976) reported that these larvae prey on mosquito larvae Wyomyia spp. Larvae of Stenomicra Figure 5.…”

Section: Composition Of Dipterans Communities Inhabiting Eryngium Phymentioning

confidence: 99%

Aquatic Diptera (Insecta) assemblages in four sympatricEryngium(Apiaceae) phytotelmata in flowering and senescent times

Campos

2015

Journal of Natural History

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This study addresses how Diptera assemblages differ in four sympatric phytotelmata. The Eryngium species retain water in their axils forming a phytotelm and this situation leads to the speculation that dipteran assemblages may differ, mainly when the plants begin to grow and retain more water in their axils, and when becoming senescent. Diptera from Eryngium horridum, Eryngium stenophyllum, Eryngium aff. serra and Eryngium elegans were sampled. This study revealed that the Eryngium spp. are used by Diptera differentially and their populations show seasonal changes, with peaks in the autumn. Diptera were represented by immature stages belonging to six aquatic and seven semi-aquatic families. The most important were Chironomidae, Culicidae, Periscelididae and Ceratopogonidae. Two species of Chironomids were the most abundant. Culicidae, Periscelididae and Ceratopogonidae were more selective than Chironomidae. Saprophages were the most abundant where the fine detritus feeders were the dominant group. Periscelididae was the main free-swimming predator.

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“…Taller pitchers, as in S. flava and S. leucophylla , catch mainly flying insects while shorter pitchers, as in S. purpurea , show a broad range of flying and crawling prey comprising many insects and snails (Folkerts, 1982). S. minor with short pitchers seems to specialize in ants (Fish, 1976). In the genus Nepenthes we find well‐documented cases of prey specialization that are related to differences in trap morphology and trap positioning.…”

Section: Mechanisms To Reduce Pollinator‐prey Overlapmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pollinator‐prey conflict in carnivorous plants

et al. 2011

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Most carnivorous plants utilize insects in two ways: the flowers attract insects as pollen vectors for sexual reproduction, and the leaves trap insects for nutrients. Feeding on insects has been explained as an adaptation to nutrient-poor soil, and carnivorous plants have been shown to benefit from insect capture through increased growth, earlier flowering and increased seed production. Most carnivorous plant species seem to benefit from insect pollination, although many species autonomously self-pollinate and some propagate vegetatively. However, assuming that outcross pollen is advantageous and is a more important determinant of reproductive success than the nutrients gained from prey, there should be a selective pressure on carnivorous plants not to feed on their potential pollen vectors. Therefore, it has been suggested that carnivorous plants are subject to a conflict, often called the pollinator-prey conflict (PPC). The conflict results from a trade-off of the benefits from feeding on potentially pollinating insects versus the need to use them as pollen vectors for sexual reproduction. In this review we analyze the conditions under which a PPC may occur, review the evidence for the existence of PPCs in carnivorous plants, and explore the mechanisms that may be in place to prevent or alleviate a PPC. With respect to the latter, we discuss how plant signals such as olfactory and visual cues may play a role in separating the functions of pollinator attraction and prey capture.

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Insect-Plant Relationships of the Insectivorous Pitcher Plant Sarracenia minor

Cited by 15 publications

References 0 publications

Ants provide nutritional and defensive benefits to the carnivorous plant Sarracenia minor

Ants provide nutritional and defensive benefits to the carnivorous plant Sarracenia minor

Aquatic Diptera (Insecta) assemblages in four sympatricEryngium(Apiaceae) phytotelmata in flowering and senescent times

Pollinator‐prey conflict in carnivorous plants

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