The story by Daniel Lingenhöhl was printed in SpektrumDirekt on 27 September 2006. It is a popular synopsis (in German) of our scientific paper on habitat loss and pitcher-plant food webs (published as Gotelli, N.J., and A.M. Ellison. 2006. Food-web models predict species abundance in response to habitat change. PLoS Biology 44(10): e324).

I first used Google Translate (http://translate.google.com) as a first pass of the story into English. The Google Translate version, which has much in common with Beat poetry, is given below in the left-hand column. It was given, along with the original German text, to P. Barry Tomlinson and Joe Holmquist at Harvard Forest, each of whom took a crack at improving the readability of the English translation. Their effort, with some additional minor editing, is in the right-hand column.

Google Translate version Redacted version Ecology Ecology Small world Small world Carnivorous plant permits view of A carnivorous plant gives insight into a complete ecological system complete ecosystem

Nature shrinks, and fight to ecologists As natural ecosystems decline, ecologists desperately for the receipt of its kinds. struggle desperately for the conservation When turning the single fates away they of their species. In the study of the fate of should not lose however the view on the individual examples they should, whole. Because even in the simplest however, not lose sight of the whole. Even habitats the connections are already close in the simplest habitats, connections enough. between species can be very close.

Where they live, usually bitterest poverty Where carnivorous plants live, for the prevails: unfruchtbare soils, hardly most part bitterest poverty prevails: nutrients. They live at rather desert places, unproductive soils, scare nutrients. These where it is always damp and all mineral plants live in impoverished places, where materials are rapidly rinsed away, as it is always moist and all mineral round around the summit of the Mount materials are rapidly leached from the Kinabalu on Borneo, the weathered high soil, as around the summit of the Mount plateaus of the venezolanischen Tepuis or Kinabalu on Borneo, the highly weathered the moorlands of the Black forest - there plateaus of the Venezuelan Tepuis or the however in partly large density. But over moors of the Black Forest; in these sites the durable lack to escape, they have a they grow in somewhat high densities. refined Sammelsurium cheat on Nevertheless, in a permanent method of developed, in order to lure and afterwards escaping, they have developed refined feed willing victims into the trap. methods of collecting nutrients in order to lure, trap, and eventually feed on willing victims.

Their Rufnamen sound quite harmless Their common name sound harmlessly romantical - like sun rope - and only romantic - like Asundew@ - but sometimes sometimes actually rather seductive as actually rather seductive, as with AVenus with the Venusfliegenfalle: Plants, which -trap@. The plants deceive passing deceive approaching , these after insects, and after they are captured by the the[y] landing in most diverse kind catch, various species, are digested into their digest and so their incorporate chemical component chemicals, because the plants components, because only of They cannot cannot survive on photosynthesis alone. In survive photosynthesis. Under this aspect this respect of special interest are the thereby can and hose sheetplants from the plants with tubular leaves in the genera kinds Nepenthes or Sarracenia, which Nepenthes and Sarracenia, which do not does not give it in Central Europe occur in Central Europe. however, are particularly interesting.

They accommodate a proper in their These plants harbor in their vase-like traps vase-similar catch containers a food web, which the plants use as a Fressgemeinschaft, the consequence of the method for satisfying their developmental vegetable meat desire is and the need for proteins. This food web has Wissbegierde of Nicholas Gotelli of the aroused the curiosity of Nicholas Gotelli university of Vermont in Burlington as (University of Vermont) and Aaron well as Aaron Ellison of Harvard Ellison (Harvard University). They University woke. On the basis this nearly investigated and measured in this virtually closed ecological system they can closed ecosystem the relation between examine in small yardstick, which habitat destruction and key species, and quantitative influence different habitat how these responses relate to the food destruction on the existence of the kinds web dynamics. living therein have how key species react and how the relations changes within the robber booty remainder worth net.

Its research object - Their research species, Sarracenia one in sumps and moorlands of southern purpurea, is a pitcher plant that is Canada and the eastern USA far spread widespread in the marshes and moorlands carnivorous hose sheet plant - trains of southern Canada and the eastern United annually six to twelve on one side closed, States. It produces annually 6-12 tubular tubular sheets, in which beside all kinds of leaves, closed on one side. In these leaves, booty also usually sufficiently much rain ample rainfall collects, along with all water collects itself, that again a complete kinds of prey and a complete food chain digest-juice-resistant food chain a home of organisms which are resistant to the place offers. When join first member plant=s digestive enzymes. This food web misfortune-blessed ants, and other joins the unfortunate ants, flies and other insects, which into the trap grope. At them insects that find their way into the traps. the larvae of the mosquito Among the resistant are larvae of still delektieren themselves knabi and the the midge Metriocnemus knabi and larvae meat fly Fletcherimyia fletcheri before the of the flesh fly. These larvae shred the plant, which besides did not consume decomposing prey, and in doing so reduce remainders of the Kerfe pleased in here them to smaller pieces. cut up.

Over these remnants then various bacteria Various bacteria and other single-celled and other single-celled organisms make organisms avail themselves of the remains themselves ago, which form again the of the prey, and the bacteria in turn are the food basis for Rädertierchen of the kind food supply for the Habrotrocha Habrotrocha rosi and for Sarraceniopus rosa and the mite Sarraceniopus gibsonii. gibsonii mites. Larvae of the mosquito Similarly, larvae of the mosquito eat likewise at the Wyeomyia smithii also eat the bacteria, bacteria, which becomes Protozoen as and even the and become well as the Rädertierchen and even the next generation of mosquitoes - a captured by the larger new generation of complex network of trophic relationships the meat flies - a simple image of the similar to that which can also be found in complicated relations network of large large habitats such as coral reefs and habitats such as corral reefs or the rain rainforests. forest.

And as mankind the jungles rodet or the As mankind clears the forest, and with sharks as point robbers of the seas and shark-like piracy overfishes the seas and thus the habitat for the respective species so destroys the habitat for all species, so limits or their natural structure over-fishes do Gotelli and Ellison now manipulate the wrecked, manipulated now Gotelli and empire [microcosm] in the pitchers. They Ellison the Imperium in the hoses. They ither increased the habitat volume by increased or made the Habitat smaller, by filling the pitchers with water or reduced filling up the funnels with water or the volume by siphoning water out, and lowering the mirror, and simplified the also simplified the food web by removing food chain by removing the Top the higher trophic levels - in this case the Beutegreifer, which are in this case flesh fly and midge larvae. Fliegenund mosquito larvae.

Clearly on the existence of other kinds the Wyeomyia larvae clearly have top-down loss of the Wyeomyia larvae affects itself, effects on species at lower trophic levels, which radiate downward, where them which in turn have bottom-up effects. The itself at the diminishing micro organisms latter are eaten by the new Sarracenia do in a friendly way, which take however generation. Where Wyeomyia disappears, influence just as upward, because they are there is less regulation of abundance of fed there by the Sarracenia new their prey and of nutrients [in the pitcher]. generation. If they disappear, a modulator The young mosquitoes can fit into the for their booty and food for their robbers leaves, but there are still further strong are missing. The young mosquitoes know conditions in the system. For example: if thus with join and right as , But give it the number of bacteria declines, because still further strong connections in the Metriocnemus knabi and Fletcherimyia system apply for key type in the hose. For fletcheri are removed, and at the same example if the number of bacteria time the volume of the pitcher is reduced, decreases/goes back, because then the entire food chain is altered from Metriocnemus separate at the same time the bottom up and conditions knabi and Fletcherimyia fletcheri as [abundances?] decline throughout the häckselnde foremen and the Habitat pitcher. shrinks by taking out water, then this whirls the food chain from bottom to top through and lets the insisting on broad front sink.

Altogether - simple - the food net in the Although it is relatively simple, the food hose sheet plants proves already as web in the pitchers is a strongly symbiotic strongly symbiontische community, in community in which each species serves a which each kind serves a special service, specific function upon which the other from which further CO members mutually species depend. Alteration of the food depends. Direct interferences therein web in this system clearly affects the affected clearly more strongly the abundance of certain species more than frequentnesses of certain kinds than even did a simple change in habitat volume. strong reductions of the habitat alone: a Similar patterns have been found on sample that itself about also up Islands to islands where introduced animals and observe has broad-made itself, on those plants can be observed to have a broad again brought in animals or plants. effect.

Sarracenia purpurea serves Gotelli and According to Gotelli and Ellison, Ellison therefore as model for the entire Sarracenia purpurea provides a model for planet: Until 2050 are to finally grow the the entire planet [!] By 2050, the human earth population again by forty per cent, population of Earth will have grown by which might cause a further shrinking of 40%, which should further reduce and the large ecological systems. So that fragment large ecological systems. Tigers, tigers, elephant or Orang Utan up to then elephans and orang-utans might survive if still survive, scientists and ecologists ecologists are concerned only with the might not only be concerned with their fates of these single species. However, a single fate. Necessary is rather a view of view of the complete food web that they the complete food net, in which they are inhabit is necessary, with all its merged - with all their requirements and requirements and interconnections. In the entangling. Finally everyone is not like end, we may all be reduced to an that being sufficient SAM like existence like that of carnivorous plants kannibalischen plants and lives at desert that live in depauperate environments. places.

Daniel Lingenhöhl Daniel Lingenhöhl