the Strange the Ugly and the Bizarre Plant Oddities Carnivores Parasites Mycotrophs Of all the plants the most bizarre the least understood but yet the most interesting are those plants that have unusual modes of nutrient uptake carnivores parasites and mycotrophs Carnivore Nepenthes Plant Oddities Carnivores Parasites Mycotrophs Plant Oddities Carnivores Parasites Mycotrophs Of all the plants the most bizarre the least understood but yet the most interesting are those plants that have unusual modes of nutrient uptake Of all the plants the most bizarre the least understood but yet the most interesting are those plants that have unusual modes of nutrient uptake Things to focus on for this topic Parasite Rafflesia Mycotroph Mycotroph Monotropa 1 What are these three types of plants 2 How do they live 3 Systematic distribution in general 4 Systematic challenges or issues 5 Evolutionary pathways how did they get to what they are Plant Oddities Carnivores Parasites Mycotrophs Plant Oddities Carnivores Parasites Mycotrophs At the state federal and international levels many of these plants are extremely rare threatened or endangered Many are protected internationally from collection by CITES Some like witchweed witchweed are some of the most devastating weeds known 70 of subSaharan grain crops are destroyed annually by Striga infestations Striga witchweed Orobanchaceae Plant Oddities The Problems Several aspects of these plants present problems The biology of how they trap animals recognize and penetrate other plants and how they interact with fungi is often little understood The basic anatomical and morphological structures of both vegetative and floral parts of these plants are often so modified that basic structure homology is little understood Systematic relationships of these plants how to classify these organisms are often poorly known and controversial Plant Oddities The Problems Three factors for systematic confusion and controversy 1 the specialized roles often involve reductions in both vegetative and floral features DNA also is reduced or has extremely high rates of change for example the parasitic Rafflesia Plant Oddities The Problems Three factors for systematic confusion and controversy 2 their connections to other plants or fungi or trapping of animals make these odd plants prone to horizontal gene transfer Angiosperm mtDNA atpI phylogeny Mitrastema placed in order Ericales with nuclear and mt DNA Mitrastema sister to host plant Quercus subsericea with one mt gene host to parasite HGT for example the parasitic Mitrastema work by former UW student Tom Kleist Angiosperm mtDNA coxI phylogeny Angiosperm mtDNA coxI phylogeny Mitrastema placed in order Ericales as it should be Mitrastema placed in order Ericales as it should be host plant and other Fagales exhibit Mitrastema like coxI Mitrastema Mitrastema like sequences is this an ancient parasite to host order HGT Plant Oddities The Problems Three factors for systematic confusion and controversy 3 often unrelated members of these groups converge unto the same morphology often related members diverge in morphology for example carnivorous plants Plant Oddities The Problems How should these 3 families be classified All possible combinations of the three have been proposed The most influential classification system was that proposed by Arthur Cronquist who placed all three families in one order the Nepenthales Plant Oddities The Problems Classic example of this systematic problem is a set of three families of carnivorous plants with various types of trapping mechanisms Pitcher traps Nepenthaceae Asian pitcher plant Sarraceniaceae American pitcher plant Fly paper and steel traps Droseraceae Sundews and Venus fly trap Plant Oddities The Problems How should these 3 families be classified DNA sequence data indicates something quite different The pitcher plant families are unrelated the Asian pitcher plants placed with sundews and American pitcher plants with Ericaceae Ericales Caryophyllales Plant Oddities The Problems Why do plants have these unusual life styles Charles Darwin and his grandfather was the first to painstakingly study carnivorous plants Lack of basic necessities for life on land CO3 3 uptake X X CO2 aquatic desert epiphyte CAM C4 succulence parasite H2O X X Carnivorous Plants parasite mycotroph light In his book on Insectivorous plants plants he showed that they had adaptations to capture and digest animals tropical temperate forest bogs sand weathered bedrock nutrients parasite mycotroph carnivore Carnivorous Plants Charles Darwin and his grandfather was the first to painstakingly study carnivorous plants In his book on Insectivorous plants plants he showed that they had adaptations to capture and digest animals Tom Givnish Givnish University of Wisconsin has refined the definition of what is a carnivorous plant 1 Adaptations to lure capture and digest prey 2 Ability to absorb nutrients from animals Carnivorous Plants Luring device of some type often involving color movement and smell Carnivorous Plants Carnivorous Plants Luring device of some type often involving color movement and smell Luring device of some type often involving color movement and smell Trapping device of some type pitchers or drowning pools steel traps sticky leaves etc Trapping device of some type pitchers or drowning pools steel traps sticky leaves etc Ability to digest animals trapped often with release of pronases and other enzymes into pool or on animal Carnivorous Plants Luring device of some type often involving color movement and smell Carnivorous Plants Plants which may accidentally kill drown in this What are not carnivores case animals and even be able to utilize their amino acids leaf pitcher pitcher in this case is simply an adaptation to collect water as an epiphyte Trapping device of some type pitchers or drowning pools steel traps sticky leaves etc Ability to digest animals trapped often with release of pronases and other enzymes into pool or on animal Amino acids radioactively labeled being incorporated into the scales of Brocchinia pineapple family Mechanisms to uptake amino acids once animal is digested often with specialized hairs or scales Billbergia Bromeliaceae Carnivorous Plants What are not carnivores So it is not surprising that carnivores show up in groups that have pre adaptations pre adaptations to the carnivory life style Five major groups contain carnivores 10 separate origins Shown here are two species of