Biologia plantarum 43:113-119, 2000 | DOI: 10.1023/A:1026567300241

Rootless Aquatic Plant Aldrovanda Vesiculosa: Physiological Polarity, Mineral Nutrition, and Importance of Carnivory

L. Adamec1
1 Institute of Botany of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Section of Plant Ecology, Třeboň, Czech Republic e-mail

Various ecophysiological investigations are presented in Aldrovanda vesiculosa, a rootless aquatic carnivorous plant. A distinct polarity of N, P, and Ca tissue content per dry mass (DM) unit was found along Aldrovanda shoots. Due to effective re-utilization, relatively small proportions of N (10 - 13 %) and P (33 - 43 %) are probably lost with senescent leaf whorls, while there is complete loss of all Ca, K, and Mg. The total content of starch and free sugars was 26 - 47 % DM along adult shoots, with the maximum in the 7th - 10th whorls. About 30 % of the total maximum sugar content was probably lost with dead whorls. The plant was found to take up 5 - 7 times more NH4+ to NO3- from a mineral medium. Under nearly-natural conditions in an outdoor cultivation container, catching of prey led to significantly more rapid growth than in unfed plants. DM of the fed controls was 48 % higher than in the unfed plants. The controls produced 0.69 branches per plant, while the unfed plants did not produced any. However, the N and P content per DM unit increased by 6 - 25 % in the apices and the first 6 whorls in the unfed variant, as compared to the fed controls. It may be suggested that carnivory is very important for Aldrovanda.

Keywords: apical shoot growth; basal shoot senescence; growth effect of carnivory; mineral and sugar content; NH4+; NO3-; HPO42- uptake
Subjects: Aldrovanda vesiculosa; ammonium uptake, carnivory; apical shoot growth, carnivory; basal shoot senescence, carnivory; carnivory, growth effect; mineral nutrition, carnivory; nitrogen supply, carnivory; phosphate, carnivory; phosphorus, carnivory

Published: March 1, 2000Show citation

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Adamec, L. (2000). Rootless Aquatic Plant Aldrovanda Vesiculosa: Physiological Polarity, Mineral Nutrition, and Importance of Carnivory. Biologia plantarum, 43(1), 113-119. doi: 10.1023/A:1026567300241.
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