The Venus flytrap (also Venus's flytrap or Venus' flytrap), Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant native to subtropical wetlands on the East Coast of the United States in North Carolina and South Carolina. It catches its prey—chiefly insects and arachnids— with a trapping structure formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves and is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces. When an insect or spider crawling along the leaves contacts a hair, the trap closes if a different hair is contacted within twenty seconds of the first strike. The requirement of redundant triggering in this mechanism serves as a safeguard against a waste of energy in trapping objects with no nutritional value. Dionaea is a monotypic genus closely related to the waterwheel plant and sundews, all of which belong to the family Droseraceae. Prey selectivity Most carnivorous plants selectively feed on specific prey. This selection is due to the available prey and the type of trap used by the organism. With the Venus flytrap, prey is limited to beetles, spiders and other crawling arthropods. In fact, the Dionaea diet is 33% ants, 30% spiders, 10% beetles, and 10% grasshoppers, with fewer than 5% flying insects. Given that Dionaea evolved from an ancestral form of Drosera (carnivorous plants that use a sticky trap instead of a snap trap) the reason for this evolutionary branching becomes clear. Whilst Drosera consume smaller, aerial insects, Dionaea consume larger terrestrial bugs. From these larger bugs, Dionaea are able to extract more nutrients. This gives Dionaea an evolutionary advantage over their ancestral sticky trap form. Plants that eat other creatures? It sounds like a genetic experiment gone awry. But there's actually nothing unnatural about it; carnivorous plants have existed on this planet for thousands of years. There are more than 500 different kinds of these plants, with appetites ranging from insects and spiders to small, one- or two-cell aquatic organisms. To be considered carnivorous, a plant must attract, capture, kill and digest insects or other animal life. One carnivorous plant in particular has captured the public's imagination: The Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula). Many people first see this amazing plant in action during their elementary school years, and are fascinated by its strange dietary habits and unique appearance Have you ever wondered what would happen if you stuck your finger in the open leaves of a Venus Flytrap, or how the plant got such an odd name? In this article, we'll answer these questions, plus a bunch more. What They Eat: If you've seen the musical/movie "Little Shop of Horrors," you might have been left with a bad impression of what really is a neat plant. While Audrey, the mutant Flytrap in the movie, developed a taste for humans, the real plant prefers insects and arachnids like: spiders flies caterpillars crickets slugs If other plants can thrive on gases in the air plus water from the soil, why do Venus Flytraps eat insects? Flytraps actually get a good deal of their sustenance like other plants do, through the process of photosynthesis. During photosynthesis, plants use the energy of the sun to drive a reaction that converts carbon dioxide and water to sugar and oxygen. The sugar produced is then converted to energy in the form of ATP, through the same processes used by our bodies to process carbohydrates. However, in addition to synthesizing glucose, plants also need to make amino acids, vitamins and other cellular components to survive. Capturing Prey When an insect lands or crawls on the trap, it is likely to run into one of six, short, stiff hairs on the trap's surface. These are called trigger hairs, and they serve as a primitive motion detector for the plant. If two of these hairs are brushed in close succession, or one hair is touched twice, the leaves close down upon the offending insect within half a second. What causes the leaves to squeeze shut? Nobody knows exactly how the sequential, mechanical stimulation of the trigger hairs translates into closing the trap. The prevailing hypothesis of the day is that: Cells in an inner layer of the leaf are very compressed. This creates tension in the plant tissue that holds the trap open. Mechanical movement of the trigger hairs puts into motion ATP-driven changes in water pressure within these cells. The cells are driven to expand by the increasing water pressure, and the trap closes as the plant tissue relaxes.
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Rating: 2002