Quite a few reasons for calling carnivores 'the most wonderful plants in the world'

• Published in: Annals of botany Vol. 109; no. 1; pp. 47 - 64
• Main Authors: Król, Elżbieta, Płachno, Bartosz J., Adamec, Lubomír, Stolarz, Maria, Dziubińska, Halina, Trębacz, Kazimierz
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Oxford University Press 01-01-2012
• Subjects: Adaptation, Physiological; Animal glands; Animal traps; Carnivores; Carnivorous plants; Carnivory - physiology; Enzymes; Insectivorous plants; Pitcher plants; Plant glands; Plant Physiological Phenomena; Plants; Plants - metabolism; REVIEW; Secretion; traps; plant excitability; nutrient absorption; rapid organ movements; action potentials; Carnivorous plants; gland functioning; plant indicators; model plants
• ISSN: 0305-7364; 1095-8290
• DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcr249

• Background A plant is considered carnivorous if it receives any noticeable benefit from catching small animals. The morphological and physiological adaptations to carnivorous existence is most complex in plants, thanks to which carnivorous plants have been cited by Darwin as 'the most wonderful plants in the world'. When considering the range of these adaptations, one realizes that the carnivory is a result of a multitude of different features. • Scope This review discusses a selection of relevant articles, culled from a wide array of research topics on plant camivory, and focuses in particular on physiological processes associated with active trapping and digestion of prey. Camivory offers the plants special advantages in habitats where nutrient supply is scarce. Counterbalancing costs are the investments in synthesis and the maintenance of trapping organs and hydrolysing enzymes. With the progress in genetic, molecular and microscopic techniques, we are well on the way to a full appreciation of various aspects of plant camivory. • Conclusions Sufficiently complex to be of scientific interest and finite enough to allow conclusive appraisal, carnivorous plants can be viewed as unique models for the examination of rapid organ movements, plant excitability, enzyme secretion, nutrient absorption, food-web relationships, phylogenetic and intergeneric relationships or structural and mineral investment in camivory.