scholarly journals Predatory dipteran larva contributes to nutrient sequestration in a carnivorous pitcher plant

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 20170716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weng Ngai Lam ◽  
Robyn Jing Ying Lim ◽  
Shi Hong Wong ◽  
Hugh Tiang Wah Tan
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Adult ◽  
Ammonium Concentration ◽  
Nitrogen Forms ◽  
Pitcher Plants ◽  
Pitcher Plant ◽  
Fluid Surface ◽  
Prey Protein ◽  
Nutrient Sequestration ◽  
Over Time

The fluids of Nepenthes pitcher plants are habitats to many specialized animals known as inquilines, which facilitate the conversion of prey protein into pitcher-absorbable nitrogen forms such as ammonium. Xenoplatyura beaveri (Diptera: Mycetophilidae) is a predatory dipteran inquiline that inhabits the pitchers of Nepenthes ampullaria . Larvae of X. beaveri construct sticky webs over the fluid surface of N. ampullaria to ensnare emerging adult dipteran inquilines. However, the interaction between X. beaveri and its host has never been examined before, and it is not known if X. beaveri can contribute to nutrient sequestration in N. ampullaria. Xenoplatyura beaveri individuals were reared in artificial pitchers in the laboratory on a diet of emergent Tripteroides tenax mosquitoes, and the ammonium concentration of the pitcher fluids was measured over time. Fluid ammonium concentration in tubes containing X. beaveri was significantly greater than those of the controls. Furthermore, fluid ammonium concentrations increased greatly after X. beaveri larvae metamorphosed, although the cause of this increase could not be identified. Our results show that a terrestrial, inquiline predator can contribute significantly to nutrient sequestration in the phytotelma it inhabits, and suggest that this interaction has a net mutualistic outcome for both species.

scholarly journals Dipteran larvae and microbes facilitate nutrient sequestration in the Nepenthes gracilis pitcher plant host

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 20160928 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weng Ngai Lam ◽  
Kwek Yan Chong ◽  
Ganesh S. Anand ◽  
Hugh Tiang Wah Tan
Keyword(s):  
Inorganic Nitrogen ◽  
Plant Host ◽  
Pitcher Plant ◽  
Prey Protein ◽  
Nitrogen Sequestration ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Nutrient Sequestration ◽  
Nepenthes Gracilis

The fluid-containing traps of Nepenthes carnivorous pitcher plants (Nepenthaceae) are often inhabited by organisms known as inquilines. Dipteran larvae are key components of such communities and are thought to facilitate pitcher nitrogen sequestration by converting prey protein into inorganic nitrogen, although this has never been demonstrated in Nepenthes . Pitcher fluids are also inhabited by microbes, although the relationship(s) between these and the plant is still unclear. In this study, we examined the hypothesis of digestive mutualism between N. gracilis pitchers and both dipteran larvae and fluid microbes. Using dipteran larvae, prey and fluid volumes mimicking in situ pitcher conditions, we conducted in vitro experiments and measured changes in available fluid nitrogen in response to dipteran larvae and microbe presence. We showed that the presence of dipteran larvae resulted in significantly higher and faster releases of ammonium and soluble protein into fluids in artificial pitchers, and that the presence of fluid microbes did likewise for ammonium. We showed also that niche segregation occurs between phorid and culicid larvae, with the former fragmenting prey carcasses and the latter suppressing fluid microbe levels. These results clarify the relationships between several key pitcher-dwelling organisms, and show that pitcher communities facilitate nutrient sequestration in their host.

Models of Personality Development in Emerging Adulthood

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Pratt ◽  
M. Kyle Matsuba
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Adulthood ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Personality Development ◽  
Emerging Adult ◽  
Late Adolescence ◽  
The Self ◽  
Personal Goals ◽  
Integrative Framework ◽  
Over Time

Chapter 2 reviews research and theory on the life story and its development and relations to other aspects of personality. The authors introduce the integrative framework of McAdams and Pals, who described three levels in a broad model of personality: personality traits; personal goals, values, and projects; and the unique life story, which provides a degree of unity and purpose to the individual’s life. This narrative, which develops in late adolescence and emerging adulthood, as individuals become able to author their own stories, includes key scenes of emotional and personal importance to provide a sense of continuity, while remaining flexible and dynamic in incorporating changes in the self over time. The chapter ends with a description of Alison, an emerging adult from our Canadian Futures Study, who illustrates these levels and what they tell about personality development during this period.

Enzyme activities in two sister-species of carnivorous pitcher plants (Nepenthes) with contrasting nutrient sequestration strategies

2021 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 113-121
Author(s):  
Ondřej Kocáb ◽  
Michaela Bačovčinová ◽  
Boris Bokor ◽  
Marek Šebela ◽  
René Lenobel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Enzyme Activities ◽  
Sister Species ◽  
Pitcher Plants ◽  
Nutrient Sequestration

EFFECTS OF FENITROTHION INSECTICIDE ON INHABITANTS OF LEAVES OF THE PITCHER PLANT, SARRACENIA PURPUREA L.

1987 ◽  
Vol 119 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 647-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.L. Fairchild ◽  
D.C. Eidt ◽  
C.A.A. Weaver
Keyword(s):  
Sarracenia Purpurea ◽  
Pitcher Plants ◽  
Pitcher Plant ◽  
Wyeomyia Smithii ◽  
Metriocnemus Knabi

AbstractBy injecting fenitrothion into fluid in leaves of pitcher plants, Sarracenia purpurea L., it was determined that the mosquito, Wyeomyia smithii (Coquillett), and the midge, Metriocnemus knabi (Coquillett), are under some risk from fenitrothion forest sprays at the rate of 210 g AI/ha. Wyeomyia smithii is slightly more susceptible than is M. knabi. Other leaf inhabitants, mites and rotifers, were not affected by initial concentrations of fenitrothion in the fluid (up to 9.6 μg/L) that did affect the mosquito and the midge.

scholarly journals The white-topped pitcher plant—a case of precarious abundance

Oryx ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 201-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
George W. Folkerts
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Domestic Market ◽  
Wild Populations ◽  
Pitcher Plants ◽  
Pitcher Plant ◽  
Great Demand ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Floral Displays

White-topped pitcher plants, among the most attractive members of the genus Sarracenia, are in great demand for floral displays, in the USA and Europe. It is doubtful whether current levels of exploitation are sustainable; there is no way of controlling harvesting for the domestic market and the monitoring of exports is difficult. As well as this pressure, wild populations are perhaps in even greater danger from changes in land use.

scholarly journals Bacteria facilitate prey retention by the pitcher plant Darlingtonia californica

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 20160577 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Armitage
Keyword(s):  
Bacterial Community ◽  
Physical Properties ◽  
Bacterial Communities ◽  
Prey Capture ◽  
Surface Tensions ◽  
Pitcher Plants ◽  
Pitcher Plant ◽  
Plant Microbe Interaction

Bacteria are hypothesized to provide a variety of beneficial functions to plants. Many carnivorous pitcher plants, for example, rely on bacteria for digestion of captured prey. This bacterial community may also be responsible for the low surface tensions commonly observed in pitcher plant digestive fluids, which might facilitate prey capture. I tested this hypothesis by comparing the physical properties of natural pitcher fluid from the pitcher plant Darlingtonia californica and cultured ‘artificial’ pitcher fluids and tested these fluids' prey retention capabilities. I found that cultures of pitcher leaves' bacterial communities had similar physical properties to raw pitcher fluids. These properties facilitated the retention of insects by both fluids and hint at a previously undescribed class of plant–microbe interaction.

scholarly journals A novel resource–service mutualism between bats and pitcher plants

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 436-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Ulmar Grafe ◽  
Caroline R. Schöner ◽  
Gerald Kerth ◽  
Anissa Junaidi ◽  
Michael G. Schöner
Keyword(s):  
Carnivorous Plant ◽  
Pitcher Plants ◽  
Pitcher Plant ◽  
Foliar Nitrogen ◽  
Dispersal Syndromes ◽  
First Case ◽  
Pollen And Seed Dispersal ◽  
Seed Dispersal Syndromes ◽  
Mutualistic Association ◽  
Resource Service

Mutualistic relationships between vertebrates and plants apart from the pollen and seed-dispersal syndromes are rare. At first view, carnivorous pitcher plants of the genus Nepenthes seem to be highly unlikely candidates for mutualistic interactions with animals, as they form dimorphic terrestrial and aerial pitchers that trap arthropods and small vertebrates. Surprisingly, however, the aerial pitchers of Nepenthes rafflesiana variety elongata are poor insect traps, with low amounts of insect-attractive volatile compounds and low amounts of digestive fluid. Here, we show that N. rafflesiana elongata gains an estimated 33.8 per cent of the total foliar nitrogen from the faeces of Hardwicke's woolly bats ( Kerivoula hardwickii hardwickii ) that exclusively roost in its aerial pitchers. This is the first case in which the faeces-trapping syndrome has been documented in a pitcher plant that attracts bats and only the second case of a mutualistic association between a carnivorous plant and a mammal to date.

COLLECTION OF THE PITCHERPLANT MOSQUITO, WYEOMYIA SMITHII (DIPTERA: CULICIDAE), FROM SASKATCHEWAN

1971 ◽  
Vol 103 (6) ◽  
pp. 886-887 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Burgess ◽  
J. G. Rempel
Keyword(s):  
Pitcher Plants ◽  
Pitcher Plant ◽  
Wyeomyia Smithii

AbstractLarvae of Wyeomyia smithii (Coquillett) were collected in Saskatchewan from pitcher-plants in swamps near Nipawin, Little Sandy Lake, and Waskesiu. Pupae and adults also were collected at Nipawin. No trace of W. smithii was found in pitcher-plants in a swamp near Duck Lake. Inconclusive evidence was obtained concerning the presence of W. smithii in a pitcher-plant swamp at Prince Albert.

scholarly journals New species of Microhyla from Sarawak: Old World’s smallest frogs crawl out of miniature pitcher plants on Borneo (Amphibia: Anura: Microhylidae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2571 (1) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
INDRANEIL DAS ◽  
ALEXANDER HAAS
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Tympanic Membrane ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Pitcher Plants ◽  
Pitcher Plant ◽  
Scapular Region ◽  
Malaysian Borneo

A new diminutive species of microhylid frog (genus Microhyla) is described from the Matang Range, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. The new species is an obligate of the pitcher plant, Nepenthes ampullaria, breeding in senescent or mature pitchers, and is Old World’s smallest frog and one of the world's tiniest: adult males range between SVL 10.6– 12.8 mm (n = 8). The new species is diagnosable from congeners in showing dorsum with low tubercles that are relatively more distinct on flanks; a weak, broken, mid-vertebral ridge, starting from forehead and continuing along body; no dermal fold across forehead; tympanic membrane and tympanic annulus absent; Finger I reduced to a nub proximal to Finger II in males; toe tips weakly dilated; phalanges with longitudinal grooves, forming two scale-like structures; webbing on toe IV basal; toes with narrow dermal fringes; inner and outer metatarsal tubercles present; and dorsum brown with an hour-glass shaped mark on scapular region. Miniaturization and reduced webbing may be the result of navigation on the slippery zone of pitchers, situated below the peristome.

scholarly journals NOTES ON THE LARVA OF THE PITCHER - PLANT MOSQUITO

1905 ◽  
Vol 37 (9) ◽  
pp. 332-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyn Groesbeeck Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
New Jersey ◽  
Pitcher Plants ◽  
Pitcher Plant ◽  
Wyeomyia Smithii ◽  
Botanical Gardens ◽  
Second Stage

Since the discovery of Wyeomyia Smithiiin the leaves of Pitcher plants in New Jersey, by Dr.J.B. Smith, it has been reported from Massachusetts and Florida.On June 16tg of the present year, the writer found a larva of the second stage in a Pitcher-plant in a greenhouse in the Botanical Gardens, Washington, D.C. July 8th, three more specimens were taken there The plants had been brought from South Carolina, and had been in the greenhouse for several Years.

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