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Post by ICPS-bob on May 9, 2009 15:56:24 GMT
Ganesh P. Bhattarai and John D. Horner. 2009. The Importance of Pitcher Size in Prey Capture in the Carnivorous Plant, Sarracenia alata Wood (Sarraceniaceae). The American Midland Naturalist 161(2):264-272. www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1674/0003-0031-161.2.264Abstract Prey capture in pitcher plants has been found to be significantly dependent on pitcher size, but the actual importance of size is not clearly understood. We studied insect capture by the carnivorous plant Sarracenia alata and compared the rate of insect capture per unit capture area of plants with that of nonbiological models and traps. The total mass of insects captured was significantly positively related to capture area for both biological and nonbiological systems. However, the rate of insect capture was significantly greater for plants than for models and traps, which suggests a role of attractants in insect capture in pitcher plants. Odor from decaying insects was found to have a significant effect on insect capture on experimental attraction cups. Further study should focus on the nature of other attractants including nectar, UV reflectance and volatiles to determine their role in insect capture by pitcher plants.
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Post by runnervalentine on Oct 3, 2010 3:26:15 GMT
see this is an old thread, i dont have access to bio ones full articles, maybe i will be able to find that article on my universities data base. sounds kind of interesting.. i just am curious exactly what the non-bio traps were like. and they say the plants were more effective at luring in prey than just the non-bio traps; but dont know why exactly other than the smell of rotting bugs seemed to help. Could be kind of an interesting read.
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