Effects of Dilution on Carnivorous Pitcher Plant Digestive Enzyme Concentration

Overview

Objectives/Goals Objective was to determine whether pitcher plants (specifically Nepenthes Ventricosa,) a type of carnivorous plant, are capable of reacting to changes in their trap environment and taking compensatory action to maintain a particular set of conditions in their pitchers. Methods/Materials 23 pitchers of the carnivorous plant Nepenthes ventricosa were covered with plastic bags before opening. One group of pitchers had been covered in October and their digestive fluid was diluted in December; these were the "old" pitchers. The other group of pitchers was covered in December and diluted after opening; these were the "new" pitchers. Controls measured normal enzyme levels. In non-control pitchers, digestive fluid was diluted with distilled water. Samples were taken immediately before and after dilution, and also at several day intervals after dilution for several weeks to track the rate at which plants secreted more digestive enzymes. Results Data varied greatly but in general indicated that older pitchers did not react to dilution, but younger pitchers did secrete more enzymes after dilution. This also occurred in the young controls, which indicates that the younger pitchers were not reacting to the dilution of their digestive fluid, but instead were still in the process of secreting the enzymes they were to use throughout their lifetimes when dilution was carried out.

Awards (1)

• First Place

Competition history

• CSEF 2012 Plant Biology · Entry S1912

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

• All Plant Sciences projects
• CSEF Plant Sciences projects
• Every CSEF 2012 project
• CSEF First Place winners