![\"attenboroughii\"](\"http:\/\/hawkdog.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/attenboroughii.jpg\" "\\"attenboroughii\\"")
<\/p>\n
*<\/p>\n
- \n
- Harvard’s Aaron Ellison and UVM’s Nicholas Gotelli are studying the ecosystems<\/a> that function within sarracenia pitchers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got four or five trophic levels in a pitcher plant, just like you\u2019ve got four or five trophic levels in a lake,\u201d said Ellison.<\/p>\n
Fly larvae are the top-level predator in the pitcher, the analogues of terrestrial tigers or wolves. They\u2019re what ecologists call a \u201ckeystone\u201d species, who control the abundance every other species, but require a habitat of sufficient size to support those other creatures.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
- \n
- What’s the more important lure – color or sugar<\/a>? Looks like color is irrelevant – at least in S. purpurea<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The results suggest that nectar production is the crucial factor in determining prey capture success.\u00a0Real pitcher plants and pseudo-pitchers trapped nearly identical numbers of prey\u2014357 versus 344 insects, respectively\u2014while pseudo-pitchers without nectar caught far less. Both the real plants and pseudo-pitchers with nectar caught mostly ants. That’s good for the plants, as ants provide a much larger quantity of nitrogen than flies on a per-weight basis. The pseudo-pitchers without nectar caught mostly springtails, a different kind of arthropod.<\/p>\n
Most significantly, the proportion of visible red area had no impact on prey capture.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lots of carnivorous plant news! The description of a new species of Nepenthes from the Phillipines hit the news – it’s called N. attenboroughii (after Sir David) . One of the discoverers wrote the Tepui book I mentioned a while … Continue reading
- What’s the more important lure – color or sugar<\/a>? Looks like color is irrelevant – at least in S. purpurea<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n