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Bauer U, Müller UK, Poppinga S. Complexity and diversity of motion amplification and control strategies in motile carnivorous plant traps. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20210771. [PMID: 34036802 PMCID: PMC8150269 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.0771] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Similar to animals, plants have evolved mechanisms for elastic energy storage and release to power and control rapid motion, yet both groups have been largely studied in isolation. This is exacerbated by the lack of consistent terminology and conceptual frameworks describing elastically powered motion in both groups. Iconic examples of fast movements can be found in carnivorous plants, which have become important models to study biomechanics, developmental processes, evolution and ecology. Trapping structures and processes vary considerably between different carnivorous plant groups. Using snap traps, suction traps and springboard-pitfall traps as examples, we illustrate how traps mix and match various mechanisms to power, trigger and actuate motions that contribute to prey capture, retention and digestion. We highlight a fundamental trade-off between energetic investment and movement control and discuss it in a functional-ecological context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ulrike Bauer
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Ulrike K Müller
- Department of Biology, California State University Fresno, Fresno, CA, USA
| | - Simon Poppinga
- Plant Biomechanics Group, Botanic Garden, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.,Cluster of Excellence livMatS @ FIT-Freiburg Center for Interactive Materials and Bioinspired Technologies, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
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Deban SM, Holzman R, Müller UK. Suction Feeding by Small Organisms: Performance Limits in Larval Vertebrates and Carnivorous Plants. Integr Comp Biol 2020; 60:852-863. [PMID: 32658970 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icaa105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Suction feeding has evolved independently in two highly disparate animal and plant systems, aquatic vertebrates and carnivorous bladderworts. We review the suction performance of animal and plant suction feeders to explore biomechanical performance limits for aquatic feeders based on morphology and kinematics, in the context of current knowledge of suction feeding. While vertebrates have the greatest diversity and size range of suction feeders, bladderworts are the smallest and fastest known suction feeders. Body size has profound effects on aquatic organismal function, including suction feeding, particularly in the intermediate flow regime that tiny organisms can experience. A minority of tiny organisms suction feed, consistent with model predictions that generating effective suction flow is less energetically efficient and also requires more flow-rate specific power at small size. Although the speed of suction flows generally increases with body and gape size, some specialized tiny plant and animal predators generate suction flows greater than those of suction feeders 100 times larger. Bladderworts generate rapid flow via high-energy and high-power elastic recoil and suction feed for nutrients (relying on photosynthesis for energy). Small animals may be limited by available muscle energy and power, although mouth protrusion can offset the performance cost of not generating high suction pressure. We hypothesize that both the high energetic costs and high power requirements of generating rapid suction flow shape the biomechanics of small suction feeders, and that plants and animals have arrived at different solutions due in part to their different energy budgets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen M Deban
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave, SCA 110, Tampa, FL 33620, USA
| | - Roi Holzman
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel.,The Inter-University for Marine Sciences in Eilat, Israel
| | - Ulrike K Müller
- Department of Biology, California State University Fresno, Fresno, CA 93740, USA
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Couret J, Notarangelo M, Veera S, LeClaire-Conway N, Ginsberg HS, LeBrun RL. Biological control of Aedes mosquito larvae with carnivorous aquatic plant, Utricularia macrorhiza. Parasit Vectors 2020; 13:208. [PMID: 32317006 PMCID: PMC7175535 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-020-04084-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2020] [Accepted: 04/13/2020] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Biological controls with predators of larval mosquito vectors have historically focused almost exclusively on insectivorous animals, with few studies examining predatory plants as potential larvacidal agents. In this study, we experimentally evaluate a generalist plant predator of North America, Utricularia macrorhiza, the common bladderwort, and evaluate its larvacidal efficiency for the mosquito vectors Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus in no-choice, laboratory experiments. We sought to determine first, whether U. macrorhiza is a competent predator of container-breeding mosquitoes, and secondly, its predation efficiency for early and late instar larvae of each mosquito species. METHODS Newly hatched, first-instar Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti larvae were separately exposed in cohorts of 10 to field-collected U. macrorhiza cuttings. Data on development time and larval survival were collected on a daily basis to ascertain the effectiveness of U. macrorhiza as a larval predator. Survival models were used to assess differences in larval survival between cohorts that were exposed to U. macrorhiza and those that were not. A permutation analysis was used to investigate whether storing U. macrorhiza in laboratory conditions for extended periods of time (1 month vs 6 months) affected its predation efficiency. RESULTS Our results indicated a 100% and 95% reduction of survival of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus larvae, respectively, in the presence of U. macrorhiza relative to controls within five days, with peak larvacidal efficiency in plant cuttings from ponds collected in August. Utricularia macrorhiza cuttings, which were prey-deprived, and maintained in laboratory conditions for 6 months were more effective larval predators than cuttings, which were maintained prey-free for 1 month. CONCLUSIONS Due to the combination of high predation efficiency and the unique biological feature of facultative predation, we suggest that U. macrorhiza warrants further development as a method for larval mosquito control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jannelle Couret
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Woodward Hall, 9 East Alumni Ave, Kingston, USA
| | - Marco Notarangelo
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Woodward Hall, 9 East Alumni Ave, Kingston, USA
| | - Sarashwathy Veera
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Woodward Hall, 9 East Alumni Ave, Kingston, USA
| | - Noah LeClaire-Conway
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Woodward Hall, 9 East Alumni Ave, Kingston, USA
| | - Howard S. Ginsberg
- U.S. Geological Survey Patuxent Wildlife Coastal Field Station, Kingston, USA
| | - Roger L. LeBrun
- Department of Plant Sciences and Entomology, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, USA
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Petruzzella A, Manschot J, van Leeuwen CHA, Grutters BMC, Bakker ES. Mechanisms of Invasion Resistance of Aquatic Plant Communities. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2018; 9:134. [PMID: 29479363 PMCID: PMC5811644 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2018.00134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2017] [Accepted: 01/23/2018] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
Invasive plant species are among the major threats to freshwater biodiversity. Few experimental studies have investigated whether native plant diversity can provide biotic resistance to invaders in freshwater ecosystems. At small spatial scales, invasion resistance may increase with plant species richness due to a better use of available resources, leaving less available for a potential invader (Complementarity effect) and/or the greater probability to have a highly competitive (or productive) native species in the community (Selection effect). In submerged aquatic plant communities, we tested the following hypotheses: (1) invader establishment success is greatest in the absence of a native plant community; (2) lower in plant communities with greater native species richness, due to complementary and/or selection effects; and (3) invader establishment success would be lowest in rooted plant communities, based on the limiting similarity theory as the invader is a rooted submerged species. In a greenhouse experiment, we established mesocosms planted with 0 (bare sediment), 1, 2, and 4 submerged plant species native to NW Europe and subjected these to the South African invader Lagarosiphon major (Ridl.) Moss. We used two rooted (Myriophyllum spicatum L., Potamogeton perfoliatus L.) and two non-rooted native species (Ceratophyllum demersum L., Utricularia vulgaris L.) representing two distinct functional groups considering their nutrient acquisition strategy which follows from their growth form, with, respectively, the sediment and water column as their main nutrient source. We found that the presence of native vegetation overall decreased the establishment success of an alien aquatic plant species. The strength of this observed biotic resistance increased with increasing species richness of the native community. Mainly due to a selection effect, the native biomass of mixed communities overyielded, and this further lowered the establishment success of the invader in our experiment. The strongest biotic resistance was caused by the two native plant species that were of the same functional group, i.e., functionally most similar to the invader. These results support the prediction of Elton's biotic resistance hypothesis in aquatic ecosystems and indicate that both species richness and functional group identity can play an important role in decreasing establishment success of alien plant species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonella Petruzzella
- Department of Aquatic Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen, Netherlands
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Król E, Płachno BJ, Adamec L, Stolarz M, Dziubińska H, Trebacz K. Quite a few reasons for calling carnivores 'the most wonderful plants in the world'. ANNALS OF BOTANY 2012; 109:47-64. [PMID: 21937485 PMCID: PMC3241575 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcr249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 71] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2011] [Accepted: 08/08/2011] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND A plant is considered carnivorous if it receives any noticeable benefit from catching small animals. The morphological and physiological adaptations to carnivorous existence is most complex in plants, thanks to which carnivorous plants have been cited by Darwin as 'the most wonderful plants in the world'. When considering the range of these adaptations, one realizes that the carnivory is a result of a multitude of different features. SCOPE This review discusses a selection of relevant articles, culled from a wide array of research topics on plant carnivory, and focuses in particular on physiological processes associated with active trapping and digestion of prey. Carnivory offers the plants special advantages in habitats where nutrient supply is scarce. Counterbalancing costs are the investments in synthesis and the maintenance of trapping organs and hydrolysing enzymes. With the progress in genetic, molecular and microscopic techniques, we are well on the way to a full appreciation of various aspects of plant carnivory. CONCLUSIONS Sufficiently complex to be of scientific interest and finite enough to allow conclusive appraisal, carnivorous plants can be viewed as unique models for the examination of rapid organ movements, plant excitability, enzyme secretion, nutrient absorption, food-web relationships, phylogenetic and intergeneric relationships or structural and mineral investment in carnivory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elzbieta Król
- Department of Biophysics, Institute of Biology, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Akademicka 19, 20-033 Lublin, Poland.
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Ellison AM, Gotelli NJ. Energetics and the evolution of carnivorous plants--Darwin's 'most wonderful plants in the world'. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2009; 60:19-42. [PMID: 19213724 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/ern179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 144] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
Carnivory has evolved independently at least six times in five angiosperm orders. In spite of these independent origins, there is a remarkable morphological convergence of carnivorous plant traps and physiological convergence of mechanisms for digesting and assimilating prey. These convergent traits have made carnivorous plants model systems for addressing questions in plant molecular genetics, physiology, and evolutionary ecology. New data show that carnivorous plant genera with morphologically complex traps have higher relative rates of gene substitutions than do those with simple sticky traps. This observation suggests two alternative mechanisms for the evolution and diversification of carnivorous plant lineages. The 'energetics hypothesis' posits rapid morphological evolution resulting from a few changes in regulatory genes responsible for meeting the high energetic demands of active traps. The 'predictable prey capture hypothesis' further posits that complex traps yield more predictable and frequent prey captures. To evaluate these hypotheses, available data on the tempo and mode of carnivorous plant evolution were reviewed; patterns of prey capture by carnivorous plants were analysed; and the energetic costs and benefits of botanical carnivory were re-evaluated. Collectively, the data are more supportive of the energetics hypothesis than the predictable prey capture hypothesis. The energetics hypothesis is consistent with a phenomenological cost-benefit model for the evolution of botanical carnivory, and also accounts for data suggesting that carnivorous plants have leaf construction costs and scaling relationships among leaf traits that are substantially different from those of non-carnivorous plants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aaron M Ellison
- Harvard Forest, Harvard University, 324 North Main Street, Petersham, MA 01366, USA.
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Adamec L. Photosynthetic CO2 affinity of the aquatic carnivorous plant Utricularia australis (Lentibulariaceae) and its investment in carnivory. Ecol Res 2008. [DOI: 10.1007/s11284-008-0510-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Adamec L. Oxygen concentrations inside the traps of the carnivorous plants Utricularia and Genlisea (Lentibulariaceae). ANNALS OF BOTANY 2007; 100:849-56. [PMID: 17720681 PMCID: PMC2749638 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcm182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2007] [Revised: 05/18/2007] [Accepted: 06/26/2007] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Species of Utricularia and Genlisea (Lentibulariaceae) are carnivorous, capturing small prey in traps which are physiologically very active, with abundant quadrifid and bifid glands. Traps of Utricularia have walls composed of two cell layers, and are filled with water. Diverse communities of commensal microorganisms often live inside the traps. Genlisea forms long, hollow subterranean traps of foliar origin, growing in anoxic wet substrate. Knowledge of the O(2) concentrations inside Utricularia and Genlisea traps is vital for understanding their physiological functioning and conditions for the life of commensals. To test the hypothesis that prey are killed by anoxia inside the traps, and to measure respiration of traps, [O(2)] was measured in the fluid in mature traps of these species. METHODS Oxygen concentration and electrical redox potential were measured using a small Clark-type oxygen sensor and a miniature platinum electrode, respectively, in the fluid of excised and intact traps of six aquatic Utricularia species and in Genlisea hispidula traps. KEY RESULTS Steady-state [O(2)] in the traps of both genera always approached zero (median 0.0-4.7 microm). The [O(2)] decreased after electrodes were inserted into Utricularia traps at a rate which ranged from 0.09 to 1.23 mm h(-1) and was lower in traps of irradiated and intact shoots with higher [O(2)] in shoot tissues. Redox potential ranged from -24 to -105 mV in the traps, confirming the very small or zero [O(2)]. CONCLUSIONS Very small or zero [O(2)], effectively anoxia, is demonstrated in Utricularia and Genlisea traps. This is probably below the critical [O(2)] for prey survival, and causes captured prey to die of suffocation. Internal trap glands and trap commensals are considered to be adapted to facultative anoxia interrupted by limited periods of higher [O(2)] after firings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lubomír Adamec
- Institute of Botany AS CR, Section of Plant Ecology, Dukelská 135, CZ-37982 Trebon, Czech Republic.
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Adamec L. Respiration and photosynthesis of bladders and leaves of aquatic utricularia species. PLANT BIOLOGY (STUTTGART, GERMANY) 2006; 8:765-9. [PMID: 17203432 DOI: 10.1055/s-2006-924540] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
In aquatic species of carnivorous utricularia, about 10 - 50 % of the total biomass consists of bladders. Utricularia bladders are physiologically very active organs though their chlorophyll content may greatly be reduced. To specify energetic costs of carnivory, respiration (RD) and net photosynthetic rate (PN) were compared in bladders and leaves or shoot segments of six aquatic utricularia species with differentiated (U. ochroleuca, U. intermedia, U. floridana) or non-differentiated shoots (U. vulgaris, U. australis, U. bremii) under optimum conditions (20 degrees C, [CO (2)] 0.20 mM, 400 micromol m (-2) s (-1) PAR). RD of bladders of six utricularia species (5.1 - 8.6 mmol kg (-1)(FW) h (-1)) was 75 - 200 % greater, than that in leaves in carnivorous or photosynthetic shoots (1.7 - 6.1 mmol kg (-1)(FW) h (-1)). Within individual species, this difference was statistically significant at P < 0.002 - 0.01. However, PN in photosynthetic leaves/shoots (40 - 117 mmol kg (-1)(FW) h (-1)) exceeded that in bladders (5.2 - 14.7 mmol kg (-1)(FW) h (-1)) 7 - 10 times. RD of empty bladders of U. ochroleuca was exactly the same as that in bladders containing prey. Though utricularia bladders are essential for uptake of growth limiting mineral nutrients N and P from prey as the main benefit of carnivory, the current results support previous work showing that bladder function requires greater metabolic (maintenance) cost and very low photosynthetic efficiency (great RD : PN ratio).
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Affiliation(s)
- L Adamec
- Institute of Botany of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Section of Plant Ecology, Dukelská 135, 379 82 Trebon, Czech Republic.
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Laakkonen L, Jobson RW, Albert VA. A new model for the evolution of carnivory in the bladderwort plant (utricularia): adaptive changes in cytochrome C oxidase (COX) provide respiratory power. PLANT BIOLOGY (STUTTGART, GERMANY) 2006; 8:758-64. [PMID: 17203431 DOI: 10.1055/s-2006-924459] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
The evolution of carnivorous plants has been modeled as a selective tradeoff between photosynthetic costs and benefits in nutrient-poor habitats. Although possibly applicable for pitfall and flypaper trappers, more variables may be required for active trapping systems. Bladderwort (utricularia) suction traps react to prey stimuli with an extremely rapid release of elastic instability. Trap setting requires considerable energy to engage an active ion transport process whereby water is pumped out through the thin bladder walls to create negative internal pressure. Accordingly, empirical estimates have shown that respiratory rates in bladders are far greater than in leafy structures. Cytochrome C oxidase (COX) is a multi-subunit enzyme that catalyzes the respiratory reduction of oxygen to water and couples this reaction to translocation of protons, generating a transmembrane electrochemical gradient that is used for the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). We have previously demonstrated that two contiguous cysteine residues in helix 3 of COX subunit I (COX I) have evolved under positive Darwinian selection. This motif, absent in approximately 99.9 % of databased COX I proteins from eukaryotes, Archaea, and Bacteria, lies directly at the docking point of COX I helix 3 and cytochrome C. Modeling of bovine COX I suggests the possibility that a vicinal disulfide bridge at this position could cause premature helix termination. The helix 3-4 loop makes crucial contacts with the active site of COX, and we postulate that the C-C motif might cause a conformational change that decouples (or partly decouples) electron transport from proton pumping. Such decoupling would permit bladderworts to optimize power output (which equals energy times rate) during times of need, albeit with a 20 % reduction in overall energy efficiency of the respiratory chain. A new model for the evolution of bladderwort carnivory is proposed that includes respiration as an additional tradeoff parameter.
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Affiliation(s)
- L Laakkonen
- Helsinki Bioenergetics Group, Programme for Structural Biology and Biophysics, Institute of Biotechnology, Biocenter 3 (Viikinkaari 1), PB 65, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
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Ulanowicz RE. Utricularia's secret: the advantage of positive feedback in oligotrophic environments. Ecol Modell 1995. [DOI: 10.1016/0304-3800(94)00032-d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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