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A semi-detritivorous pitcher plant, Nepenthes ampullaria diverges in its regulation of pitcher fluid properties

Harvard Dataverse (Africa Rice Center, Bioversity International, CCAFS, CIAT, IFPRI, IRRI and WorldFish)

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Title A semi-detritivorous pitcher plant, Nepenthes ampullaria diverges in its regulation of pitcher fluid properties
 
Identifier https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/GATZ7D
 
Creator Gilbert, Kadeem
 
Publisher Harvard Dataverse
 
Description Tropical pitcher plants (Nepenthes) are carnivorous plants that trap and digest prey using highly modified fluid-filled leaves known as pitchers. Prey are digested by plant-secreted enzymes and pitcher symbionts. Pitchers exert control over abiotic properties of the digestive fluid such as pH levels that can influence its symbionts. Here we examine natural variation in pH and dissolved mineral concentrations in three sympatric Nepenthes species, assessing correlations between fluid properties and pitcher traits. We use addition experiments to investigate differences in protein digestion/absorption rates between species. Fluid pH and dissolved mineral levels both showed distinct patterns corresponding to pitcher developmental stages in N. gracilis and N. rafflesiana, whereas N. ampullaria differs from its congeners in exhibiting far less variation in fluid pH, as well as less clear evidence of protein depletion. This study further elucidates the properties of pitchers as habitats, revealing ways in which the host plant regulates that habitat.
 
Subject Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
carnivorous plants
 
Contributor Gilbert, Kadeem