A surprising number of plants snack on fungi as well as sunshine.
Tag - stable isotopes
Laura Skates
Basal orchid cheats on its fungal partner
Apostasia nipponica is the first member of the early-diverging orchid clade found to be using this strategy.
Erin Zimmerman
How important is meat to a curious carnivorous plant?
Drosophyllum lusitanicum, also known as the Portuguese sundew or dewy pine, is unusual even for carnivorous plants in that it lives in dry environments. Typically, carnivorous plants live in nutrient-poor wetlands, so...
Alun Salt
Investigating the diet of carnivorous plants
Earlier this year we reported on how it looked like bladderworts were farming their food, as much as hunting it. A paper submitted before those came out adds to the story, by examining the 'trophic level' of bladderwort...
Mixotrophy in boreal pyroloids does not vary with tissue age or light level
Pyroloid mixotrophy does not respond plastically to ageing or to light level. This contrasts with the usual view of a convergent evolution with orchids.
botanyone
An orchid with a partially mycoheterotrophic taste for truffles
Partially mycoheterotrophic nutrition is a widespread trophic strategy in green-leaved Orchidaceae species in forest habitats. Owing to the light limitation of their habitats, many forest orchids meet carbon demands...
It’s not easy being green: ecophysiological patterns of mycoheterotrophy in ectomycorrhizal Orchidaceae and Ericaceae
Autotrophy, though common among plants, isn’t the only way plants make a living. Some plants have lost all photosynthetic abilities and instead rely on symbiotic relationships with fungi. Even some leafy green plants...
Saprotrophic fungi and fully mycoheterotrophic orchids
This study identifies saprotrophic mycorrhizal fungi for seven mycoheterotrophic orchid species growing in four humid and warm subtropical forests in Taiwan
Mutualistic ants contribute to bromeliad nutrition
It is more advantageous for some bromeliads to obtain ant-derived nutrients via its roots than to eat them.
AJ Cann
Ants mediate plant reproductive traits
The selection of floral and reproductive traits is influenced by the plant’s abiotic environment, florivores and pollinators. Leroy et al. show that mutualistic associations with ants can result in an enhanced...
