The Carnivorous Plant Guild Welcomes a New Member (2021)

indefenseofplants.com

58 points·tusslewake··7 comments

"It turns out that 64% of the nitrogen within the plant is obtained via insect digestion"

I suspect that this is way more common than we think. This plant has sticky stems and they digest insects that stick.

It must be quite easy for plants to add insectivore to the skillset. They often already have a symbiosis with insects for reproduction. There are plenty of saps and other sticky substances available to deal with shuffling water and nutrients around. The fly trap is a bit fancy and complicated but the simple honeydew type arrangement must surely be way more common than we think it is.

> I suspect that this is way more common than we think

I can't really think of a mechanism that would allow a tree to get nutrients from extruded sap normally(most other plants don't tend to produce much sap in my recollection). In general I think other mechanisms are much more likely for nitrogen fixation.

Sap catches insects, then falls off to the ground below, rain then dissolves the dead insects and sap which returns to the roots and mycorrhizae that feed the tree and distal forest network.

I feel like, if you're looking for previously unknown carnivorous plants, everything that grows in a bog should be viewed with suspicion.

Maybe this is the way to make food plants insect-resistant.

It’s interesting to imagine corn stalks covered in sticky goo trapping and digesting insects. I wonder how many genes are involved in something like that.

Oh, and not just less insecticide. Less fertilizer too!

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