期刊
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
卷 282, 期 1801, 页码 -出版社
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.2675
关键词
Nepenthes; plant-insect interactions; carnivorous plants; prey capture; peristome 'aquaplaning'; collective foraging
资金
- Trinity College Cambridge
- Henslow Research Fellowship from the Cambridge Philosophical Society
- Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship
- Mark Pryor Fund
- Balfour Trust
- Charles Slater Fund
- British High Commission in Brunei
- German Academic Exchange Service
- Leverhulme Trust [F/09 364/G]
- NERC Independent Research Fellowship
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/E004156/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- Natural Environment Research Council [NE/K009370/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- BBSRC [BB/E004156/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- NERC [NE/K009370/1] Funding Source: UKRI
Carnivorous Nepenthes pitcher plants capture arthropods with specialized slippery surfaces. The key trapping surface, the pitcher rim (peristome), is highly slippery when wetted by rain, nectar or condensation, but not when dry. As natural selection should favour adaptations that maximize prey intake, the evolution of temporarily inactive traps seems paradoxical. Here, we show that intermittent trap deactivation promotes 'batch captures' of ants. Prey surveys revealed that N. rafflesiana pitchers sporadically capture large numbers of ants from the same species. Continuous experimental wetting of the peristome increased the number of non-recruiting prey, but decreased the number of captured ants and shifted their trapping mode from batch to individual capture events. Ant recruitment was also lower to continuously wetted pitchers. Our experimental data fit a simple model that predicts that intermittent, wetness-based trap activation should allow safe access for 'scout' ants under dry conditions, thereby promoting recruitment and ultimately higher prey numbers. The peristome trapping mechanism may therefore represent an adaptation for capturing ants. The relatively rare batch capture events may particularly benefit larger plants with many pitchers. This explains why young plants of many Nepenthes species additionally employ wetness-independent, waxy trapping surfaces.
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