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9.5: Predatory plants

  • Page ID
    25474
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    Plants as Predators.JPG
    Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\). Plants as predators.

    Peatlands can form over vast areas where the habitat is isolated from a normal supply of nutrients (Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\), left) and life there must endure low levels of nitrogen. In this situation, some plants become predators.

    The pitcher plant (Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\), middle), for example, attracts insects with nectar and then eats them to obtain nitrogen, trapping them in a pool of digestive fluid at the bottom of a tall green vase with slippery, unidirectional sides of downward-pointing hairs. The sundew (Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\), right) seems simpler, capturing unwary insects in sticky droplets and then consuming them.


    This page titled 9.5: Predatory plants is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Clarence Lehman, Shelby Loberg, & Adam Clark (University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.

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