Capture of mammal excreta by Nepenthes is an effective heterotrophic nutrition strategy.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

While 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.

Methods

We examined how isotopic enrichment varied in the diverse ge

SUBMITTER: Cross AT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9851329 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature