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Support Materials
Background Essay
The flow of energy from one form of life to the next begins with plants. Through the
process of photosynthesis, plants harness the Sun's energy and use it to transform
carbon dioxide and water into the food molecules that sustain them. The energy stored
in these molecules nourishes not only the plants that produce them, but also nearly
every organism on Earth. Wolves, toucans, and fungi all depend on plants to play the
role of primary producers. In an interesting evolutionary twist, several groups of plants
have turned the tables on the animal world, and play both producer and consumer in
their unique environments.
For plants to be productive, they require access to sufficient light, water, and nutrients.
Light and water make photosynthesis possible. Nutrients such as nitrogen,
phosphorous, and potassium are essential to a plant's ability to build many important
molecules, including proteins, DNA, and the pigment chlorophyll that enables plants to
absorb light energy. Although most plants obtain the nutrients they need from the soil,
not all nutrients are readily available in every environment. For example, nitrogen is
often a limiting factor in the productivity of plants. Without a sufficient quantity of usable
nitrogen in the soil, plants typically fail to thrive and/or reproduce.
Despite the fact that nitrogen is one of the most plentiful elements on Earth—making up
approximately 78 percent of our atmosphere—much of it is unusable to plants. Before
plants can use nitrogen, it must first be "fixed," or converted, into compounds such as
nitrate or ammonium. This conversion is most often carried out by specialized bacteria
that live in the soil or in the roots of some plants, such as legumes.
Some soil types are particularly poor in nitrogen because they lack sufficient numbers of
nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Wet soils, such as those found in bogs, are typically too acidic
for bacteria to live in, so there is nothing to break organic molecules down into usable
forms of nitrogen and other compounds. As a result, some of the plants that grow in
these areas have evolved modified leaves and other specialized structures that enable
them to obtain nitrogen from animals by capturing and digesting them.
Carnivorous plants use a variety of leaf modifications to capture and digest their prey.
For example, pitcher plants capture and digest insects inside vessel-shaped leaves that
contain rainwater and digestive enzymes; sundews trap insects on leaf hairs that are
tipped with sticky secretions; and Venus flytraps, perhaps the best known of all
carnivorous plants, capture insects with hinged leaves that close rapidly when an insect
touches trigger hairs on the leaf surface. With such modifications, these plants have
effectively solved the problem of nitrogen-poor soils, and can function as both producers
and consumers.
Discussion Questions

What are two different ways that carnivorous plants trap insects?

If these carnivorous plants make food through photosynthesis, why do you think they
need to trap insects?

How does a carnivorous plant compare to other types of plants in terms of getting
nutrients for life?

Describe the food chain of an ecosystem that includes a carnivorous plant, such as one
you saw in the video.