Predatory dipteran larva contributes to nutrient sequestration in a carnivorous pitcher plant

Abstract

The fluids of pitcher plants are habitats to many specialized animals known as inquilines, which facilitate the conversion of prey protein into pitcher-absorbable nitrogen forms such as ammonium. (Diptera: Mycetophilidae) is a predatory dipteran inquiline that inhabits the pitchers of Larvae of construct sticky webs over the fluid surface of to ensnare emerging adult dipteran inquilines. However, the interaction between and its host has never been examined before, and it is not known if can contribute to nutrient sequestration in individuals were reared in artificial pitchers in the laboratory on a diet of emergent mosquitoes, and the ammonium concentration of the pitcher fluids was measured over time. Fluid ammonium concentration in tubes containing was significantly greater than those of the controls. Furthermore, fluid ammonium concentrations increased greatly after larvae metamorphosed, although the cause of this increase could not be identified. Our results show that a terrestrial, inquiline predator can contribute significantly to nutrient sequestration in the phytotelma it inhabits, and suggest that this interaction has a net mutualistic outcome for both species.

Ecology and natural history of swimming pitcher mites (Creutzeria spp., Histiostomatidae) from the traps of Nepenthes pitcher plants

“…This net parasitic/neutral relationship contrasts starkly to that found in microbes, which was strongly positive in both ant prey species used (Table 1; Fig. 3), and other dipteran pitcher inquilines (Lam et al, 2017(Lam et al, , 2018aLeong et al, 2018). Mites are often the most numerically abundant metazoan inquilines in Nepenthes pitchers (Kitching, 2000;Bittleston et al, 2016) and thus have the potential to greatly alter nutrient cycling in pitchers, although this effect was found to be only very weakly negative in this study.…”

“…In vitro, model pitcher set-ups were established using 15-mL Cellstarâ centrifuge tubes with 3 mL of filtered pitcher fluids and 3.22 mg of D. thoracicus carcasses. In vitro experiments are a convenient yet realistic method for simulating conditions in Nepenthes pitchers and the methodology used in this study was the same as that used in other published Nepenthes inquiline community studies (Lam et al, 2017(Lam et al, , 2018aLeong et al, 2018). Ten randomly selected Creutzeria mite individuals were then introduced into each tube and allowed to feed and reproduce.…”

“…Fluids were filtered using 0.22 µm Amiconâ Ultra centrifugal filters (MilliporeSigma, Burlington, MA, USA) prior to chemical analyses. These methods were the same as those employed in Nepenthes nutrient studies (Lam et al, 2017(Lam et al, , 2018aLeong et al, 2018). Fluid microbe density was determined by measuring the optical density of unfiltered fluids at 600 nm (OD 600 ).…”

“…Interspecific interactions clearly shape the inquiline communities within Nepenthes phytotelmata (Clarke & Kitching, 1993;Kitching, 2001). The diversity of such interactions, ranging from facilitation (Bradshaw & Creelman, 1984;Lam et al, 2017) to competition (Leong et al, 2018) and predation (Mogi & Chan, 1996;Chua & Lim, 2012;Lam et al, 2018a), make inquiline communities potentially valuable model systems for the study of community ecology and biodiversity phenomena (Srivastava et al, 2004). Nevertheless, knowledge gaps in the basic ecology and life history of some inquiline species greatly limit such a potential utility.…”

Plant–animal interactions between carnivorous plants, sheet‐web spiders, and ground‐running spiders as guild predators in a wet meadow community

“…Carnivorous plants experience additional plant–animal interactions that other angiosperms do not. These include prey–pollinator conflict where capturing potential pollinators can reduce growth and reproduction (Ellison & Gotelli, 2009), digestive mutualism where animals help carnivorous plants acquire nutrients from prey (Anderson, 2005; Anderson & Midgley, 2003; Chin, Moran, & Clarke, 2011; Ellis & Midgley, 1996; Grafe, Schöner, Kerth, Junaidl, & Schöner, 2011; Lam, Lim, Wong, & Tan, 2018; Lim, Lam, & Tan, 2018; Scharmann, Thornham, Grafe, & Federle, 2013; Schöner et al, 2017), and antagonistic plant–animal interactions such as kleptoparasitism (Burbridge, 1880; Scharmann et al, 2013).…”