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Harvard Forest Symposium Abstract 2012

• Title: The effects of insect exclusion on Sarracenia purpurea pitcher plant microbial communities
• Primary Author: Leonora Bittleston (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
• Additional Authors: Primrose Boynton (Harvard); Anne Pringle (University of Wisconsin - Madison)
• Abstract:

  The carnivorous Northern pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea is a model for food web dynamics. The modified leaves, or pitchers, are sterile until they open. Soon after opening they are filled with rainwater, and accumulate a diverse community of organisms. The microbes in pitchers are still relatively unknown, although recent studies have shown that a keystone predator, the mosquito Wyeomyia smithii, controls bacterial diversity. In this project, I examined how insects affected the diversity and abundance of yeasts in S. purpurea pitcher plants. The insect exclusion treatment successfully excluded W. smithii, however some midges, mites and ants still found their way into gauze-covered pitchers. The gauze treatment did not reduce the abundance or diversity of yeasts in the pitchers, and the abundance of yeasts was positively correlated with insect counts. Additionally, I found that one commonly associated yeast, Candida glaebosa, is present internally in surface-sterilized adult W. smithii, indicating that the mosquito may act as a vector for the yeast. 


• Research Category: Biodiversity Studies
  Physiological Ecology, Population Dynamics, and Species Interactions