title: Reliance on prey-derived nitrogen by the carnivorous plant Drosera rotundifolia decreases with increasing nitrogen deposition.
abstract: • Carnivory in plants is presumed to be an adaptation to a low-nutrient environment. Nitrogen (N) from carnivory is expected to become a less important component of the N budget as root N availability increases. • Here, we investigated the uptake of N via roots versus prey of the carnivorous plant Drosera rotundifolia growing in ombrotrophic bogs along a latitudinal N deposition gradient through Sweden, using a natural abundance stable isotope mass balance technique. • Drosera rotundifolia plants receiving the lowest level of N deposition obtained a greater proportion of N from prey (57%) than did plants on bogs with higher N deposition (22% at intermediate and 33% at the highest deposition). When adjusted for differences in plant mass, this pattern was also present when considering total prey N uptake (66, 26 and 26 μg prey N per plant at the low, intermediate and high N deposition sites, respectively). The pattern of mass-adjusted root N uptake was opposite to this (47, 75 and 86 μg N per plant). • Drosera rotundifolia plants in this study switched from reliance on prey N to reliance on root-derived N as a result of increasing N availability from atmospheric N deposition.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Hydrological and Ecosystem Science, Department of Geography, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK. j.millett@lboro.ac.uk
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Millett
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Svensson
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Newton
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rydin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001272:Atmosphere; D060435:Carnivory; D029787:Drosera / Q000502:physiology*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000378:metabolism; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D013548:Sweden; D053833:Wetlands
chemical_list: D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes; D009584:Nitrogen