Prey composition of the pitcher plant Nepenthes madagascariensis

Nepenthes madagascariensis is a carnivorous plant which captures its prey in pitcher-like leaves. It is endemic to Madagascar where it occurs along the eastern coast. Altogether 94.3% of its prey animals belong to three taxa: Formicidae (80.2%), Diptera (9.7%) and Coleoptera (4.4%). The prey compositions of the dimorphic lower and upper pitcher types differ significantly, especially in the markedly higher proportion of ants in lower pitchers and the higher number of flying insects in upper pitchers. A comparison concerning the trap frequency of taxa with literature data from Asian Nepenthes species showed that the upper pitchers of N. madagascariensis contained much higher proportions of Coleoptera, Diptera and Lepidoptera; these differences may partly be due to seasonal reasons. No significant correlation could be established between the numbers of prey items with pitcher size. This paper is the first characterization of the prey composition of the little known N. madagascariensis.

Temperature Effect on Cirac and Zoller Model Using Two-Time Green's Function

Using the two-time Green's function method, we analyze the temperature effect on the famous Cirac and Zoller model. Formulas for the average number of different mode phonons and the deviation of its internal state from its ground state are derived. The influence of the internal state energy and trap frequency on the number of phonons is also discussed. The upper limit of temperature for regular quantum computation in the Cirac and Zoller model is obtained.