Post by shartmeyer on Sept 26, 2012 22:26:49 GMT
We are happy to introduce the catapult-flypaper-trap on YouTube and in PLOS ONE to you: dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0045735
We show the first experimental evidence for the role of catapulting tentacles in prey capture of a carnivorous plant and introduce a new active trapping mechanism: The catapult-flypaper-trap. This video documents our (Irmgard and Siegfried R. H. Hartmeyer) collaboration with the Plant Biomechanics Group of the Botanic Garden of the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg (Germany) in 2012, providing all necessary information to handle the sophisticated cultivation of Drosera glanduligera and to understand how this unique sundew from southern Australia uses its amazing combined catapult-flypaper trapping mechanism. Prey animals walking near the edge of the sundew trigger a touch-sensitive snap-tentacle which swiftly catapults them upside down onto adjacent sticky glue-tentacles. By acting like a band-conveyor, the glue-tentacles lift the prey into the concave leaf-center within two minutes where digestion takes place, well protected from kleptoparasites. This is the first detailed documentation and analysis of the prey-catching, functional morphology, and kinematics of such catapulting tentacles, and highlights a unique and surprisingly complex mechanical adaptation to carnivory.
We show the first experimental evidence for the role of catapulting tentacles in prey capture of a carnivorous plant and introduce a new active trapping mechanism: The catapult-flypaper-trap. This video documents our (Irmgard and Siegfried R. H. Hartmeyer) collaboration with the Plant Biomechanics Group of the Botanic Garden of the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg (Germany) in 2012, providing all necessary information to handle the sophisticated cultivation of Drosera glanduligera and to understand how this unique sundew from southern Australia uses its amazing combined catapult-flypaper trapping mechanism. Prey animals walking near the edge of the sundew trigger a touch-sensitive snap-tentacle which swiftly catapults them upside down onto adjacent sticky glue-tentacles. By acting like a band-conveyor, the glue-tentacles lift the prey into the concave leaf-center within two minutes where digestion takes place, well protected from kleptoparasites. This is the first detailed documentation and analysis of the prey-catching, functional morphology, and kinematics of such catapulting tentacles, and highlights a unique and surprisingly complex mechanical adaptation to carnivory.
