Tropical pitcher plants (Nepenthes) act as ecological filters by altering properties of their fluid microenvironments.

ABSTRACT: Characteristics of host species can alter how other, interacting species assemble into communities by acting as ecological filters. Pitchers of tropical pitcher plants (Nepenthes) host diverse communities of aquatic arthropods and microbes in nature. This plant genus exhibits considerable interspecific diversity in morphology and physiology; for example, different species can actively control the pH of their pitcher fluids and some species produce viscoelastic fluids. Our study investigated the extent to which Nepenthes species differentially regulate pitcher fluid traits under common garden conditions, and the effects that these trait differences had on their associated communities. Sixteen species of Nepenthes were reared together in the controlled environment of a glasshouse using commo

SUBMITTER: Gilbert KJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7064508 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature