Nutrient Availability Affects Flowering Rate but Has Limited Influence on Morphology of the Hooded Pitcher Plant, Sarracenia Minor
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UNF Digital Commons UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations Student Scholarship 2013 Nutrient Availability Affects Flowering Rate but has Limited Influence on Morphology of the Hooded Pitcher Plant, Sarracenia minor. Justin M. Lemmons University of North Florida Suggested Citation Lemmons, Justin M., "Nutrient Availability Affects Flowering Rate but has Limited Influence on Morphology of the Hooded Pitcher Plant, Sarracenia minor." (2013). UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 475. https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/etd/475 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at UNF Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UNF Digital Commons. For more information, please contact Digital Projects. © 2013 All Rights Reserved NUTRIENT AVAILABILITY AFFECTS FLOWERING RATE BUT HAS LIMITED INFLUENCE ON MORPHOLOGY OF THE HOODED PITCHER PLANT, SARRACENIA MINOR By Justin Marc Lemmons A thesis submitted to the Department of Biology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Biology UNIVERSITY OF NORTH FLORIDA COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES December, 2013 Unpublished work © Justin Marc Lemmons CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL The thesis “Nutrient Availability Affects Flowering Rate but has Limited Influence on Morphology of the Hooded Pitcher Plant, Sarracenia minor” submitted by Justin Marc Lemmons. Approved by the thesis committee: Date _____________________________ ___________________ Anthony M. Rossi, Ph.D. Committee Chair Person ______________________________ ____________________ Daniel C. Moon, Ph.D. ______________________________ _____________________ Dale A. Casamatta, Ph.D. Accepted for the Department: _______________________________ _______________________ Daniel C. Moon, Ph.D. Chairperson Accepted for the College: ________________________________ ________________________ Barbara A. Hetrick, Ph.D. Dean Accepted for the University: ___________________________________ _________________________ Len Roberson Dean of the Graduate School ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many thanks to Dr. Daniel Moon, Dr. Anthony Rossi and Dr. Dale Casamatta for their extraordinary mentorship and knowledge. Thanks to Dr. Rossi for also providing funds and help in the field. Thanks to my fantastic field assistants: Shantelle Johnson, Adam Bauernfeind, Nichole Bishop and Janice Blass Travis. Thanks to Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA) and Michael Robinson, JEA Forester. Thanks to family and friends for their support. Special thanks to Javier “Bily-soke” Gonzalez for affording me the luxury of his guidance and parenthood, and for sharing his teachings and philosophy. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ................................................................................................................................................. v List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................... vi Abstract ...................................................................................................................................................... viii Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 1 History and Background ............................................................................................................................ 1 Trapping Mechanisms ............................................................................................................................... 4 Inquiline Community ................................................................................................................................. 6 Nutrients ................................................................................................................................................... 7 Sarracenia minor ....................................................................................................................................... 9 Methods ...................................................................................................................................................... 11 Experimental Field Design....................................................................................................................... 12 Ant Collection and Analyses .................................................................................................................... 13 Statistical Analyses of Treatments .......................................................................................................... 15 Results ......................................................................................................................................................... 15 Discussion.................................................................................................................................................... 16 Appendix I: Tables ....................................................................................................................................... 24 Appendix II: Figures ..................................................................................................................................... 26 Literature Cited ........................................................................................................................................... 42 Curriculum Vitae ......................................................................................................................................... 48 iv LIST OF TABLES Table Description Page Table 1 Mean ± SEM of nitrogen content (%) of fire ants 24 (Solenopsis invicta). Final mean of replicates equals 10.4%. Table 2 Mean ± SEM of morphological characteristics of S. 25 minor. Parameters were analyzed using a one-way ANOVA, except for number of flowers which was analyzed using a χ2-test (see text for details). v LIST OF FIGURES Figure Description Page Figure 1 Morphology of the hooded pitcher plant, Sarracenia 26 minor. Note photosynthetic phyllode and keel. Figure 2 Photosynthetic phyllode produced by S. minor. 27 Figure 3 Pitcher plant zones: Zone 1 = hood region with 28 directional hairs and fenestrations; Zone 2 = lip, mouth and neck region with nectar glands; Zone 3 = waxy region with enzyme glands; Zone 4 = fluid filled digestive region with downward pointing hairs. Figure 4 McGirt’s Creek research site after accidental fire on 29 March 2, 2012. Figure 5 Sarracenia minor pitchers plugged with cotton to 30 control ambient prey capture. Figure 6 Linear regression of fire ant, S. invicta, quantity vs. 31 mass (mg) (y = .359x - .385, r = .950). Figure 7 Percent change between the minimum and maximum 32 number of pitchers per ramet. Figure 8 Number of new phyllodia produced per ramet. 33 Figure 9 Number of flowers produced per ramet. 34 Figure 10 Percent change between the minimum and maximum 35 pitcher height (mm). Figure 11 Percent change between the minimum and maximum 36 pitcher width (mm). Figure 12 Percent change between the minimum and maximum 37 keel width (mm). Figure 13 Percent change between the minimum and maximum 38 mouth diameter (mm). Figure 14 Number of pitchers with E. semicrocea galleries per 39 ramet. Figure 15 Number of E. semicrocea galleries per tallest pitcher 40 per ramet. vi Figure 16 Solenopsis invicta patrolling pitcher and flower. Also 41 note S. invicta mound built at the base of the S. minor ramet. vii ABSTRACT Carnivorous plants perform as both producers and consumers. Botanical carnivory has evolved in sunny, moist, nutrient-poor environments, and the primary nutrient supplied by prey is proposed to be nitrogen. There is a trade-off between carnivorous and photosynthetic structures which corresponds to degree of carnivory expression and available nutrients. This study was conducted on the hooded pitcher plant, Sarracenia minor, which is a facultative wetland plant and Florida-threatened species. Sarracenia minor is considered a specialist myrmecophage and ants characterize the majority of attracted and captured prey. Ants not only provide nutritional benefit, but also protection against herbivory. A natural population of S. minor in northeast Florida was selected to test response to prey and fertilizer nitrogen in a press-experimental design. Introduced fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) and ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) were used as prey and fertilizer nitrogen sources, respectively. Treatments included: 1) ant addition; 2) fertilizer addition; 3) ant addition/fertilizer addition; 4) no ants/no fertilizer; 5) control. Treatments were administered biweekly and morphological characteristics and herbivory were measured monthly from April-November 2012. Results indicated no significant treatment effects on plant performance and morphological characteristics, except for a significantly greater number of flowers displayed by the nutrient-deprived group (p < .005). Herbivory by Exyra semicrocea also showed a marginally significant negative effect on the tallest pitchers per ramet. Since nitrogen is primarily stored by pitchers and allocated to new growth in the following growing season, the predictive power of this study may be limited. However, increased flowering rate in the