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Competition does not explain the absence of a carnivorous pitcher plant from a nutrient-rich marsh

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Abstract

Background and Aims

Why is the carnivorous pitcher plant, Sarracenia alata Wood, largely absent from eutrophic habitats? Two hypotheses are addressed: (1) Sarracenia alata is competitively excluded by non-carnivorous plants where resource availability is high and (2) S. alata cannot tolerate stressful conditions unrelated to competition in a eutrophic wetland.

Methods

We tested these hypotheses using a reciprocal transplant experiment to compare the performance of Sarracenia alata in eutrophic marsh and oligotrophic bog, crossed with soil source and neighbor removal treatments. Multiple environmental co-variables were also measured to identify factors responsible for transplant performance.

Results

Survivorship was 46.5% greater in the bog than in the marsh, and a significant proportion of the variation was explained by higher redox potential in the bog. Transplants were not negatively impacted by neighbors in either community.

Conclusions

Results lead us to reject the competitive inferiority hypothesis and provide support for a hypothesis of inadequate stress avoidance. We suggest that a lack of tolerance of abiotic stressors, as opposed to competition, be given greater consideration when explaining the distributions of terrestrial hydrophytic carnivorous plants.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the staff at both Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge for providing logistical support in this project. We would also like to thank Dr. Jason Hoeksema, Dr. Megan Rúa, Dr. Bridget Piculell and Ann Rasmussen for their assistance in the field and for providing helpful suggestions in the initial prepping stages of the manuscript. We must also thank the three anonymous reviewers that provided constructive comments and suggestions that helped greatly enhance the quality of the manuscript. This project was funded by grants from the Society of Wetland Scientists Student Research Program, Sigma Xi Grants-In-Aid of Research Program, and the University of Mississippi Graduate Student Research Program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Mississippi, University, MS, 38677-1848, USA

    Matthew J. Abbott & J. Stephen Brewer

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  1. Matthew J. Abbott
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  2. J. Stephen Brewer
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Correspondence to Matthew J. Abbott.

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Responsible Editor: Hans Lambers.

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Abbott, M.J., Brewer, J.S. Competition does not explain the absence of a carnivorous pitcher plant from a nutrient-rich marsh. Plant Soil 409, 495–504 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-016-3011-1

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