ArticleAnnals of botany2022
Capture of mammal excreta by Nepenthes is an effective heterotrophic nutrition strategy.
Article in Annals of botany, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Carnivorous Plant Biology: From Gene to Traps.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- CarnivorousApplied and environmental microbiology · 2023Article
- Biological Potential of Carnivorous Plants from Nepenthales.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsWhile isotopic enrichment of nitrogen (15N) and carbon (13C) is often used to determine whether carnivorous plant species capture and assimilate nutrients from supplemental sources such as invertebrate prey or mammal excreta (heterotrophic nutrition), little is known about how successful the different strategies deployed by carnivorous plants are at obtaining supplemental nutrition. The collection of mammalian faeces by Nepenthes (tropical pitcher plants) is the result of a highly specialized biological mutualism that results in heterotrophic nitrogen gain; however, it remains unknown how effective this strategy is in comparison to Nepenthes species not known to collect mammalian faeces.
methodsWe examined how isotopic enrichment varied in the diverse genus Nepenthes, among species producing pitchers for invertebrate capture and species exhibiting mutualisms for the collection of mammal excreta. Enrichment factors were calculated from δ15N and δ13C values from eight Nepenthes species and naturally occurring hybrids along with co-occurring reference (non-carnivorous) plants from three mountain massifs in Borneo: Mount Kinabalu, Mount Tambuyukon and Mount Trus Madi.
resultsAll Nepenthes examined, except N. edwardsiana, were significantly enriched in 15N compared to co-occurring non-carnivorous plants, and 15N enrichment was more than two-fold higher in species with adaptations for the collection of mammal excreta compared with other Nepenthes.
conclusionsThe collection of mammal faeces clearly represents a highly effective strategy for heterotrophic nitrogen gain in Nepenthes. Species with adaptations for capturing mammal excreta occur exclusively at high elevation (i.e. are typically summit-occurring) where previous studies suggest invertebrate prey are less abundant and less frequently captured. As such, we propose this strategy may maximize nutritional return by specializing towards ensuring the collection and retention of few but higher-value N sources in environments where invertebrate prey may be scarce.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.