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university of Provence - Aix-Marseille I |  |
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university of Provence - Aix-Marseille I | |
| HAL: halsde-00675167, version 1 |
| PubMed: 21434933 |
| DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2011.03696.x |
| Detailed view |  Export this paper |
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| New Phytologist 191, 2 (2011) 545-54 |
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| Slippery or sticky? Functional diversity in the trapping strategy of Nepenthes carnivorous plants. |
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Vincent Bonhomme 1Hervé Pelloux-Prayer 1 |
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| (2011-07) |
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| The pitcher-shaped leaves of Nepenthes carnivorous plants have been considered as pitfall traps that essentially rely on slippery surfaces to capture insects. But a recent study of Nepenthes rafflesiana has shown that the viscoelasticity of the digestive fluid inside the pitchers plays a key role. Here, we investigated whether Nepenthes species exhibit diverse trapping strategies. We measured the amount of slippery wax on the pitcher walls of 23 taxa and the viscoelasticity of their digestive liquid and compared their retention efficiency on ants and flies. The amount of wax was shown to vary greatly between species. Most mountain species exhibited viscoelastic digestive fluids while water-like fluids were predominant in lowland species. Both characteristics contributed to insect trapping but wax was more efficient at trapping ants while viscoelasticity was key in trapping insects and was even more efficient than wax on flies. Trap waxiness and fluid viscoelasticity were inversely related, suggesting the possibility of an investment trade-off for the plants. Therefore Nepenthes pitcher plants do not solely employ slippery devices to trap insects but often employ a viscoelastic strategy. The entomofauna specific to the plant's habitat may exert selective pressures, favouring one trapping strategy at the expense of the other. |
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| 1: | BotAnique et BioinforMatique de l'Architecture des Plantes (AMAP) |
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Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement [CIRAD] : UMR51 – CNRS : UMR5120 – Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] – Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA) : UR0931 – Université Montpellier II - Sciences et techniques |
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| 2: | Centre de biologie et gestion des populations (CBGP) |
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Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement [CIRAD] : UMR55 – Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA) – Université Montpellier II - Sciences et techniques – Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] : UR022 |
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| 3: | Institut universitaire des systèmes thermiques industriels (IUSTI) |
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CNRS : UMR6595 – Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille I |
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| subject | : | Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology |
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| Biological trade-off – Carnivorous pitcher plant – Digestive fluid – Leaf wax – Nepenthes – Trapping strategy – Viscoelasticity |
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| halsde-00675167, version 1 | |
| http://hal-sde.archives-ouvertes.fr/halsde-00675167 | |
| oai:hal-sde.archives-ouvertes.fr:halsde-00675167 | |
| From: Yannick Brohard | |
| Submitted on: Wednesday, 29 February 2012 11:49:22 | |
| Updated on: Wednesday, 29 February 2012 11:49:22 | |
