Pitcher geometry facilitates extrinsically powered ‘springboard trapping’ in carnivorous Nepenthes gracilis pitcher plants

Anne S Lenz, Ulrike Bauer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Carnivorous pitcher plants capture insects in cup-shaped leaves that function as motionless pitfall traps. Nepenthes gracilis evolved a unique ‘springboard' trapping mechanism that exploits the impact energy of falling raindrops to actuate a fast pivoting motion of the canopy-like pitcher lid. We superimposed multiple computed micro-tomography images of the same pitcher to reveal distinct deformation patterns in lid-trapping N. gracilis and closely related pitfall-trapping N. rafflesiana. We found prominent differences between downward and upward lid displacement in N. gracilis only. Downward displacement was characterized by bending in two distinct deformation zones whist upward displacement was accomplished by evenly distributed straightening of the entire upper rear section of the pitcher. This suggests an anisotropic impact response, which may help to maximize initial jerk forces for prey capture, as well as the subsequent damping of the oscillation. Our results point to a key role of pitcher geometry for effective ‘springboard' trapping in N. gracilis.
Original languageEnglish
Article number20220106
JournalBiology Letters
Volume18
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship (grant no. UF150138) and a Royal Society Enhancement Award (grant no. RGF/EA/180059). Acknowledgements

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors.

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Pitcher geometry facilitates extrinsically powered ‘springboard trapping’ in carnivorous Nepenthes gracilis pitcher plants'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this