Prey-capture in Milliseconds / European Utricularia Video

[Siggi_Hartmeyer]

Bladderworts (Utricularia) possess the fastest capture mechanism of all carnivorous plants. Ultrafast bladder traps suck in prey within less than a millisecond. That is 100 times faster than Venus’s flytrap snap shuts. Seven of the ten species that occur in Europe can be found in the region between Lake Constance, Swabian Alb and the Alps. Thanks to the support of the worldwide recognized CP-expert Dr. Jan Schlauer, we were able to film all seven Utricularia at their natural habitat. The terrific speed of prey captures show recordings with a high-speed camera, taken at the labs of the Plant Biomechanics Group of the Botanical Garden of the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg (Germany). Dr. Simon Poppinga kindly provided these remarkable shots. In addition, a scanning electron microscope image featuring the quadrifid glands inside a bladder trap (both published in Poppinga et al. (2016). AoB PLANTS 8: plv140). As the film shows, their shape can be helpful for the determination of several quite similar looking species. Detailed information on our domestic bladderworts is provided by the scientific article “Die Gattung Utricularia in Bayern” (2014) published by the Bavarian Botanical Society, from which we quoted repeatedly in this film. To protect the partly endangered plants, but also because the access to some of the swamp areas without an experienced guide is not at all harmless, we do explicitly not mention exact locations. Our film provides English subtitles. Enjoy!

 

 

[Deg]

Thanks for sharing.