Peter Rakauskas's Blog Post

 

 

 

The Trapping Mechanism in Pitcher Plants

Wes Major

expertvillage

N.D.

http://www.ehow.com/video_4427854_the-trapping-mechanism-pitcher-plants.html

 

Summary of Video

The video is a neat description of how two different types of pitcher plants catch their prey.  They are much more passive than other carnivorous pants such as the Venus flytrap.  While the flytrap will close on its prey using its own power, the pitcher plant attracts prey with the smell of sweet nectar.  When the insect tries to land on the plant, it slips on a slippery substance and falls into the plant's pit of digestive enzymes, where it is ingested.  The next plant uses a similar trapping method, but it is made to capture flying insects who, when inside of the plant's hook-like chamber, believe that the white spots on the inside of the chamber are ways to get out, and will bash up against the side of the wall and knock themselves out, causing them to fall into the digestive enzymes of the plant.  

 

Relevance to Class

In class, we are learning about plants as our unit, but more specifically we are learning about what feeds a plant and how it gets these nutrients.  The swamps where the pitcher plant lives do not have the appropriate nutrients in their muddy soils, so the plants have taken to consuming other creatures, namely insects, to fulfill their nutritional needs.