Plants, insectivorous

A number of plants can eat insects. These plants are called insectivorous plants. Examples include the Drosera, Dionaeva, Venus-flytrap, pitcher plants, sundew, and blad-derworts. Insectivorous plants are most often found in moist and nutrient-poor habitats. The insects, which the plants trap, provide mineral nutrients. The amazing speeds of electrical impulses are illustrated by the capture of insects by insect-eating plants and during the tropism. Action potentials in the plants not processing motor activity are similar in their characteristics to the action potentials of sensitive plants of the... 

Likewise, WoodwelPs prediction" of enhancement of the activity of insect pests and some disease agents (which has been demonstrated in the San Bernardino Mountains forest) could lead to an increase in vertebrate species that feed on invertebrates or utilize dead plants for cover. Birds would be the most likely to increase and, to a lesser extent, such small mammals as deer mice, which are partially insectivorous. 

Thomson, N. J. (1981). Reversed animal-plant interactions the evolution of insectivorous and ant-fed plants. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 16 147-155. 

With carpels free or united, but when united rarely with central placentation not insectivorous plants with petals not moss-like or algal-like flowering plants. 

This is a cosmopolitan family of insectivorous plants known as sundews (Drosera). 

These insectivorous pitcher plants are found from the Seychelles and Madagascar to Australia and New Caledonia. They are often cultivated as novelties. 

These insectivorous plants are found in both eastern and western portions of North America as well as northeastern sections of South America. 

An animal s teeth reflect its eating habits. Omnivores, animals that eat different types of food, including both meat and plants, tend to have all three types of teeth. Their incisors are not large, but may be sharp and pointed. Insectivores, who live on insects, have jagged molars that can be used for crushing hard crunchy bug parts. Meat eaters, or carnivores, have all three types of teeth. Their incisors may be large and sometimes extend well outside... 

Potassium channels can have a frequency of one or more channels per square micrometer of membrane surface area. Cellular control can be exerted on the opening of such K+ channels, because concentrations of cytosolic Ca2+ above 3 x 10-4 mol m-3 (0.3 p,M) can inhibit channel opening. Other ion channels in plant membranes are specific for Ca2+ or Cl-. Besides being sensitive to the electrical potential difference across a membrane, some channels apparently open upon stretching of a membrane. Also, many plant cells are excitable and can transmit action potentials, a process in which ion channels are undoubtedly involved. For example, action potentials have been measured for plants responsive to tactile stimuli, such as rapid leaf movements in Mimosa pudica and insectivorous plants (Dionaea spp., Drosera spp.), as well as along the phloem for many species. In addition, ion channels are involved in the long-term maintenance of specific ion concentrations in plant cells. 

Among the best known insectivorous plants are Drosera rotundifoUa of our climate and Nepenthes of the tropics. The data, often contradictory, which we have on this subject per-... 

Several peptides can be absorbed intact by plants. The three peptides DL-ala-DL-asp, DL-ala-DL-met, and DL-ala-DL-leu are not hydrolyzed by the pitcher liquid of the insectivorous plant Sarracenia, but are taken up intact into leaves. The mechanism of absorption is unknown (Higgins and Payne, 1982). However, during the germination of barley grains, peptides produced by breakdown of storage proteins are actively transported by the scutellum (Higgins and Payne, 1982). 

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