Dr. “Several Nepenthes species have evolved from carnivores to feeding on animal excrement,” says Robinson. “We found that mammalian feces had more than double the nitrogen uptake of other Nepenthes species.”
The scientists explain that insects are scarce in the tropics above 2,200m, so these plants maximize their nutrient yield by harvesting and conserving less valuable nitrogen sources, such as shrew droppings.
To arrive at their conclusions, the team examined isotopic enrichment in Nepenthes tissue samples to compare exogenous nitrogen and carbon levels; They compared species that caught insects with species that specialize in collecting mammalian excrement, and also tested co-grown non-carnivorous plants as controls.
Source: Ferra
