You are here
Harvard Forest REU Symposium Abstract 2005
- Title: A Comparison of Prey Decomposition in Sundews and Pitcher plants
- Author: Jonah S Butler (New College of Florida)
- Abstract:
Carnivorous plants obtain the majority of their nutrients through decomposition of captured prey. The amount and rate of prey decomposition is important; plants that decompose prey at a faster rate and greater quantity can utilize prey-derived nutrients more rapidly. I compared the rates of decomposition in 7 species of carnivorous plants, from 2 genera (Drosera filiformis, Drosera intermedia, Sarracenia flava, Sarracenia leucophylla, Sarracenia jonesii, Sarracenia minor, and Sarracenia rubra) . The common house fly (Musca domestica) was used as the prey source. Flies were dried and weighed before placing one fly in each leaf. There were 20 treated leaves within each species; leaves were randomly split into two harvests, one week and three weeks. Flies were carefully removed from leaves, dried and weighed, to asses the percent of prey decomposition. The two sundew species had similar decomposition rates with 36.9 %, and 44.5 % decomposition in Drosera intermedia and Drosera fliliformis, respectively. Within Sarracenia, taller plants appeared to have a greater decomposition within the first week. The tallest species, Sarracenia leucophylla obtained the highest average decomposition in 1 week; decomposing 77.8 % of the fly mass (Fig. 1). However, at the second harvest smaller species achieved the greatest decomposition of prey. Sarracenia rubra decomposed an average of 86.9 % in week 3. Different rates of decomposition within pitcher plants could be a result of a larger surface area and a greater amount of enzymatic glands, or the need for more rapid nutrient acquisition from prey due to physiological constraints.
- Research Category:
