ArticleAnnals of botany2019
Picky carnivorous plants? Investigating preferences for preys' trophic levels - a stable isotope natural abundance approach with two terrestrial and two aquatic Lentibulariaceae tested in Central Europe.
Article in Annals of botany, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Are carnivorous plants mixotrophic?The New phytologist · 2025Article
- Sticky plants and plant-based glues: potential for pest control.Frontiers in plant science · 2025Review
- To eat or not to eat: novel stable isotope models reveal a shift in carnivory with nutrient availability for aquatic Utricularia spp.Annals of botany · 2024Article
- Laboratory scale evaluation of the feasibility of locally found bladderworts as biological agents to control dengue vector, Aedes aegypti in Sri Lanka.BMC plant biology · 2023Article
- Capture of mammal excreta by Nepenthes is an effective heterotrophic nutrition strategy.Annals of botany · 2022Article
- Distinguishing carbon gains from photosynthesis and heterotrophy in C3-hemiparasite-C3-host pairs.Annals of botany · 2022Article
- Isotopic evidence of arbuscular mycorrhizal cheating in a grassland gentian species.Oecologia · 2020Article
- An ecological perspective on 'plant carnivory beyond bogs': nutritional benefits of prey capture for the Mediterranean carnivorous plant Drosophyllum lusitanicum.Annals of botany · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsStable isotope two-source linear mixing models are frequently used to calculate the nutrient-uptake efficiency of carnivorous plants from pooled prey. This study aimed to separate prey into three trophic levels as pooled prey limits statements about the contribution of a specific trophic level to the nutrition of carnivorous plants. Phytoplankton were used as an autotrophic reference for aquatic plants as the lack of suitable reference plants impedes calculation of their efficiency.
methodsTerrestrial (Pinguicula) and aquatic (Utricularia) carnivorous plants alongside autotrophic reference plants and potential prey from six sites in Germany and Austria were analysed for their stable isotope natural abundances (δ15N, δ13C). A two-source linear mixing model was applied to calculate the nutrient-uptake efficiency of carnivorous plants from pooled prey. Prey preferences were determined using a Bayesian inference isotope mixing model. KEY
resultsPhytophagous prey represented the main contribution to the nutrition of Pinguicula (approx. 55 %), while higher trophic levels contributed a smaller amount (diverse approx. 27 %, zoophagous approx. 17 %). As well as around 48 % nitrogen, a small proportion of carbon (approx. 9 %) from prey was recovered in the tissue of plants. Aquatic Utricularia australis received 29 % and U. minor 21 % nitrogen from zooplankton when applying phytoplankton as the autotrophic reference.
conclusionsThe separation of prey animals into trophic levels revealed a major nutritional contribution of lower trophic level prey (phytophagous) for temperate Pinguicula species. Naturally, prey of higher trophic levels (diverse, zoophagous) are rarer, resulting in a smaller chance of being captured. Phytoplankton represents an adequate autotrophic reference for aquatic systems to estimate the contribution of zooplankton-derived nitrogen to the tissue of carnivorous plants. The autonomous firing of Utricularia bladders results in the additional capture of phytoplankton, calling for new aquatic references to determine the nutritional importance of phytoplankton for aquatic carnivorous plants.
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