Sticky Plants Research Articles

A Comparative Study Between Froth Flotation And Gravity Separation Method To Recover Fossil Resins From Bukan Kwato Coal, Lafia, Nassarawa State, Nigeria

Background: Fossil resins are sticky plants secretions that harden on atmospheric exposure overtime, and has been found within coal and other sedimentary rocks. They are formed tens of millions of years ago through the diagenetic or catagenic transformations of plant exudates induced by various geochemical processes. The recovery of fossil resins from Bukan Kwato using froth flotation method and gravity separation method is the focus of this research. Results: The two methods were then compared in order to see which has the highest recovery. The obtained samples were analyzed using sieve analysis. It was also analyzed using XRF analysis which reveals that the samples have 2.09% of carbon and 2.72% of sulphur from froth flotation method. It also has 2.08% of carbon and 2.41% of sulphur from gravity separation method. Conclusively: it was observed that froth flotation method has the highest recovery and is more efficient.

Proboscidea and Dicyphini: An example of spontaneous mutualism by a population of predatory bugs inhabiting a sticky plant

A population of the mirid-bug Dicyphus errans (Miridae) a species occurring in Europe, colonized a group of Devil’s Claw (Proboscidea louisianica subsp. fragrans (Martyniaceae)) native to the USA and cultivated in a garden in Germany. More than 20 individuals of these predatory bugs have been found living and moving freely on these sticky plants, feeding on stuck victims, while garden ants (Lasius spp. (Hymenoptera)) trying to place aphids for “sugar farming” became captured together with their “productive livestock”, as do small flies and bees. The observations on this spontaneous mutualism between the American Devil’s Claw and a small mosquito-like European mirid-bug has been recorded on video (Hartmeyer 2022). This constitutes an additional example for the adaptation of these ubiquitous predatory bugs to feed on the prey of sticky plants that would usually capture small-sized insects. The American Frank Obregon (2017), who found native mirid-bugs on his cultivated Roridula (Roridulaceae) in California, called the phenomenon assisted carnivory, which fits quite nicely. Proboscidea as well as Roridula do not produce digestive enzymes, so they cannot benefit directly from their diverse captured prey. But as soon as predatory bugs colonize the plants and feed on the sticking prey, their droppings provide a suitable fertilizer to be absorbed by the stomata of the leaf. A perfect mutualism. In addition, some historic facts on bug-plant interaction are provided.

Growth and Production Response of Glutinous Corn (Zea mays L. ceratina) Plant on the Number of Perennial Seeds Planting and Dosage of NPK

This study aims to determine the interaction between the number of seeds of planting holes and the dose of NPK on the growth and production of sticky corn plants. The research method used factorial RCBD which was carried out in March-May 2018. The first factor was the number of seeds of planting holes consisting of 2 levels: 1 hole and 2 holes and the second factor was the dose of NPK, P1 = dose 50 kg / ha, P2 = dose of 100 kg / ha, and P3 = dose of 150 kg / ha, repeated 3 times so that 18 units of experiment were obtained. The results showed that the growth and production interaction occurred between the treatment of the number of seeds of planting holes and the dose of NPK. The results of the study that the NPK dose was able to increase the diameter of the cob in the B1P3 treatment which is 3.61 cm. Whereas the treatment of the number of planting holes has a significant effect on the diameter of the stem. While the number of seeds for planting holes can increase the number of leaves and dry weight of stover.

Living on a sticky trap: natural history and morphology of Bactrodes assassin bugs (Insecta: Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Bactrodinae)

ABSTRACT Plants with glandular trichomes have been shown to attract specialist, mutualistic predatory insects. Despite recent advances in understanding the plant component in this association, few sticky plant specialist insects are well documented and their adaptations to the sticky plant environment are understudied. We here describe and illustrate, for the first time, aspects of the natural history and morphology of a small clade of predatory hemipteran insects, the Bactrodinae (Reduviidae). Our study suggests that these insects are exclusively associated with plant species with glandular trichomes. The relationship is not specific as one species of Bactrodes Stål may be associated with multiple species, genera or even families of plants. We document a unique clamp-like structure formed by one of the pretarsal claws and opposing tarsal spine-like setae that enables Bactrodinae to grasp trichomes and walk on leaves densely covered with trichomes. We further present observations of Bactrodes species scavenging on insects entrapped on leaves. Bactrodinae also oviposit on their host plants, and females engage in behaviours that we interpret as maternal egg guarding, a life history strategy that is rare in predatory true bugs. We speculate that instead of or in addition to decreasing egg predation or egg parasitism, female egg guarding may be a response to the limited availability of sticky plants and a strategy against cannibalism.

Clovers Suffer Less Herbivory When Growing with Sticky Plants

Clovers Suffer Less Herbivory When Growing with Sticky Plants

Observations and tests on cultivated tropical Byblis

The annual Byblis species (Byblidaceae, Lamiales) are predominantly Australian endemics with B. liniflora extending also north to Papua New Guinea (Cross et al. 2018). Beside their features as sticky carnivorous plants, many enthusiasts especially appreciate their bushy appearance with many showy hermaphroditic flowers. The following report features our experiences with the cultivation and hybridization of B. filifolia and B. liniflora over two decades at our heated greenhouse in Weil am Rhein (Germany).

Induction of the sticky plant defense syndrome in wild tobacco.

Many plants engage in protective mutualisms, offering resources such as extrafloral nectar and shelters to predatory arthropods in exchange for protection against herbivores. Recent work indicates that sticky plants catch small insects and provide this carrion to predators who defend the plants against herbivores. In this study, we investigated whether wild tobacco, Nicotiana attenuata, fits this sticky plant defense syndrome that has been described for other sticky plants. We developed a bioassay for stickiness involving the number of flies that adhered to flowers, the stickiest tissues. In surveys conducted over three field seasons at four sites, we found that the number of carrion that adhered to a plant was positively correlated with the number of predators that we observed foraging over its surfaces. The number of predators was positively correlated with the number of seed capsules that the plant produced, a measure of lifetime female reproductive success. Structural equationmodeling indicated strong support for the causal path linking carrion numbers to predator numbers to capsule production. We investigated whether stickiness was an inducible trait and examined two potential cues. We found that experimental clipping of rosette leaves induced greater stickiness, although clipping of neighboring sagebrush leaves did not. Damage to leaf tissue is likely to be a more reliable predictor of risk than is damage to a neighboring plant. The sticky plant defense syndrome is a widespread protective mutualism; its strength and ecological relevance can adjust as risk of herbivory changes.

Entrapped carrion increases indirect plant resistance and intra‐guild predation on a sticky tarweed

Many plants employ indirect defenses against herbivores; often plants provide a shelter or nutritional resource to predators, increasing predator abundance, and lessening herbivory to the plant. Often, predators on the same plant represent different life stages and different species. In these situations intraguild predation (IGP) may occur and may decrease the efficacy of that defense. Recently, several sticky plants have been found to increase indirect defense by provisioning predatory insects with entrapped insects (hereafter: carrion). We conducted observational studies and feeding trials with herbivores and predators on two sticky, insect‐entrapping asters, Hemizonia congesta and Madia elegans, to construct food webs for these species and determine the prevalence of IGP in these carrion‐provisioning systems. In both systems, intraguild predation was the most common interaction observed. To determine whether IGP was driven by resource abundance, whether it reduced efficacy of this indirect defense and whether stickiness or predator attraction was induced by damage, we performed field manipulations on H. congesta. Carrion supplementation led to an increase in predator abundance and IGP. IGP was asymmetric within the predator guild: assassin bugs and spiders preyed on small stilt bugs but not vice versa. Despite increased IGP, carrion provisions decreased the abundance of the two most common herbivores (a weevil and a mealybug). Overall seed set was driven by plant size, but number of seeds produced per fruit significantly increased with increasing carrion, likely because of the reduction in the density of a seed‐feeding weevil. Observationally and experimentally, we found that carrion‐mediated indirect defense of tarweeds led to much intraguild predation, though predators effectively reduced herbivore abundance despite the increase in IGP.

The three criteria for resistance by plant carrion‐provisioning: insect entrapment and predator enrichment on Mimulus bolanderi

1. Many sticky plants provision mutualistic scavenging arthropod predators with carrion, which in turn protect the plant from insect herbivores. While insect entrapment is a common trait across plants, which plants attract these predators and may derive protection is still largely unknown.2. Three conditions were proposed that must be satisfied for observational data to suggest this defensive strategy: (i) the consistent presence of scavenging predators, (ii) positive correlation between predator numbers and carrion, and (iii) suitability of these predators for controlling known herbivores.3. As a case study, we examined the fire‐following annual, Mimulus [Diplacus] bolanderi (Phyrmaceae), which is part of a well‐studied radiation of California monkeyflowers. Many monkeyflowers entrap insects, though attraction to predators has not been quantified in this genus.4. A guild of scavenging arthropod predators on M. bolanderi (condition #1) was found, which correlated positively with carrion abundance (#2) and could consume the primary herbivore (#3), suggesting a carrion‐mediated defensive strategy. Lastly, as M. bolanderi is variable in time and space, these interactions are facultative, and these predators are quick to adopt ephemeral carrion resources on novel host plants.

The siren song of a sticky plant: Columbines provision mutualist arthropods by attracting and killing passerby insects.

Many plants provide predatory arthropods with food or shelter. Glandular trichomes entrap insects and may provision predators with insect carrion, though it has not been clear whether this putative benefit functions with natural amounts of carrion, whether plants actively attract insect "tourists," and how common this provisioning system is. We tested the hypothesis that a sticky columbine (Aquilegia eximia: Ranunculaceae) attracts passerby arthropods (a siren song leading them to their demise); that these entrapped arthropods increased predators on the plant; and that these predators reduced damage to the plant. Sticky traps baited with columbine peduncles entrapped more arthropod carrion than unbaited control traps. Predator abundance correlated positively with carrion abundance observationally, and experimental removal of carrion reduced predator numbers. Experimental removal of carrion also increased damage to reproductive structures, likely due to reductions in predator numbers. This indirect defense may be common; we compiled a list of insect-trapping sticky plants that includes over 110 genera in 49 families, suggesting a widespread convergence of this trait, even in non-carnivorous plants. The ubiquity of this trait combined with these experiments suggest that carrion entrapment should be viewed as a common and active process mediated by the plant for indirect defense.

Mirid (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) Specialists of Sticky Plants: Adaptations, Interactions, and Ecological Implications

Sticky plants-those having glandular trichomes (hairs) that produce adhesive, viscous exudates-can impede the movement of, and entrap, generalist insects. Disparate arthropod groups have adapted to these widespread and taxonomically diverse plants, yet their interactions with glandular hosts rarely are incorporated into broad ecological theory. Ecologists and entomologists might be unaware of even well-documented examples of insects that are sticky-plant specialists. The hemipteran family Miridae (more specifically, the omnivorous Dicyphini: Dicyphina) is the best-known group of arthropods that specializes on sticky plants. In the first synthesis of relationships with glandular plants for any insect family, we review mirid interactions with sticky hosts, including their adaptations (behavioral, morphological, and physiological) and mutualisms with carnivorous plants, and the ecological and agricultural implications of mirid-sticky plant systems. We propose that mirid research applies generally to tritrophic interactions on trichome-defended plants, enhances an understanding of insect-plant interactions, and provides information useful in managing crop pests.

Generalist and sticky plant specialist predators suppress herbivores on a sticky plant

Glandular trichomes are conventionally viewed as a type of direct defense against herbivores that carry indirect costs associated with the exclusion of numerous predators. We tested the hypothesis that predators are ineffective on sticky plants using a predator that is adapted to sticky plants, the harpactorine assassin bug Pselliopus spinicollis Champion, and a common surrogate generalist predator in analogous studies, the coccinellid Hippodamia convergens Guerin. We tested their top–down effects on herbivores using sticky and non-sticky races of common madia plants (Asteraceae: Madia elegans) and their native herbivores, a noctuid moth (Noctuiidae: Heliothodes diminutiva Hodges) and an aphid (Aphididae: Uroleucon madia Swain). We report that both predators were effective at reducing herbivore abundances on sticky and non-sticky plants, with greater efficacy on sticky plants.

Sticky plant traps insects to enhance indirect defence

Plant-provided foods for predatory arthropods such as extrafloral nectar and protein bodies provide indirect plant defence by attracting natural enemies of herbivores, enhancing top-down control. Recently, ecologists have also recognised the importance of carrion as a food source for predators. Sticky plants are widespread and often entrap and kill small insects, which we hypothesised would increase predator densities and potentially affect indirect defence. We manipulated the abundance of this entrapped insect carrion on tarweed (Asteraceae: Madia elegans) plants under natural field conditions, and found that carrion augmentation increased the abundance of a suite of predators, decreased herbivory and increased plant fitness. We suggest that entrapped insect carrion may function broadly as a plant-provided food for predators on sticky plants.

Mineral nutrient uptake from prey and glandular phosphatase activity as a dual test of carnivory in semi-desert plants with glandular leaves suspected of carnivory.

Ibicella lutea and Proboscidea parviflora are two American semi-desert species of glandular sticky plants that are suspected of carnivory as they can catch small insects. The same characteristics might also hold for two semi-desert plants with glandular sticky leaves from Israel, namely Cleome droserifolia and Hyoscyamus desertorum. The presence of proteases on foliar hairs, either secreted by the plant or commensals, detected using a simple test, has long been considered proof of carnivory. However, this test does not prove whether nutrients are really absorbed from insects by the plant. To determine the extent to which these four species are potentially carnivorous, hair secretion of phosphatases and uptake of N, P, K and Mg from fruit flies as model prey were studied in these species and in Roridula gorgonias and Drosophyllum lusitanicum for comparison. All species examined possess morphological and anatomical adaptations (hairs or emergences secreting sticky substances) to catch and kill small insects. The presence of phosphatases on foliar hairs was tested using the enzyme-labelled fluorescence method. Dead fruit flies were applied to glandular sticky leaves of experimental plants and, after 10-15 d, mineral nutrient content in their spent carcasses was compared with initial values in intact flies after mineralization. Phosphatase activity was totally absent on Hyoscyamus foliar hairs, a certain level of activity was usually found in Ibicella, Proboscidea and Cleome, and a strong response was found in Drosophyllum. Roridula exhibited only epidermal activity. However, only Roridula and Drosophyllum took up nutrients (N, P, K and Mg) from applied fruit flies. Digestion of prey and absorption of their nutrients are the major features of carnivory in plants. Accordingly, Roridula and Drosophyllum appeared to be fully carnivorous; by contrast, all other species examined are non-carnivorous as they did not meet the above criteria.

Comparative researches and evaluations on grassland management and nature conservation in natural grasslands of the Transdanubian mountain range

As a result it could be stated that the dolomite slope rocky grassland is more sensitive against excess intensive grazing. Ratio of characteristic species has been decreased, giving floor for degradation tolerant species and poisonous or sticky plants not favored by animals. From a nature conservation point of view, a positive change has happened on the once mowed area converted into pasture of Hungarian Grey Cattle breed near the Inner Lake (Tihany peninsula).

COMPETITION, HERBIVORY, AND REPRODUCTION OF TRICHOME PHENOTYPES OF DATURA WRIGHTII

The trichome dimorphism of Datura wrightii is intriguing because glandular trichome production has a high fitness cost. Plants producing glandular trichomes (''sticky'' plants) are resistant to many insect herbivores that attack plants producing nonglandular trichomes (''velvety'' plants). When protected from herbivores, sticky plants initially pro- duce fewer seeds than velvety plants but grow to a larger size. In a three-year field ex- periment, we tested the hypothesis that sticky plants acquire a competitive advantage through greater vegetative growth. In the absence of herbivores, sticky and velvety plants grew to similar sizes in their first year, but sticky plants grew larger in the second and third years. Seed production of sticky plants was 46-60% less than velvety plants in their first year, and this caused a 13% reduction in their finite rate of increase overall, even though sticky plants produced more seeds than velvety plants did in later years. The impact of herbivory varied with plant density, and herbivores reduced plant fitness more at low plant density than at high plant density. The differences in growth associated with trichome morphology occurred too late to provide a competitive advantage to sticky plants and probably contribute little to the maintenance of D. wrightii's trichome dimorphism.

SURVIVAL AND SEED PRODUCTION OF STICKY AND VELVETY DATURA WRIGHTII IN THE FIELD: A FIVE-YEAR STUDY

Leaves of Datura wrightii in California (USA) are covered either with glandular trichomes (“sticky” plants) or non-glandular trichomes (“velvety” plants), and sticky plants are resistant to many insect herbivores. Theoretical models suggest that variation in resistance to herbivores may persist if resistance is costly and herbivore damage is variable. If so, then natural selection should favor resistant plants when damage is high and disfavor it when damage is low. However, without long-term equivalence between costs and benefits, then natural selection either should drive the trait to fixation if it has a net benefit or eliminate it if it has a net cost. Previously we showed that the production of glandular trichomes carried a net cost in short-term studies, suggesting that this expensive resistant trait might be eliminated from D. wrightii populations. To test this hypothesis we monitored survival and seed production of sticky and velvety D. wrightii in the presence of herbivores in 11 natural populations over four or five years. In eight populations where both types occurred, the finite rate of increase for velvety plants was 60–274% greater than for sticky plants. Plant survival averaged between two and three years and did not differ significantly between types. Because seed production consistently favored velvety plants, our prediction that the proportion of sticky plants should decline was met within five years in seven of those eight populations. If the variation in trichome morphology in D. wrightii is indeed maintained by variation in costs and benefits of glandular trichomes, then the periodicity of such variation extends over more than five seasons.

Spectral properties, gas exchange, and water potential of leaves of glandular and non-glandular trichome types in Datura wrightii (Solanaceae).

Plant trichomes commonly serve a role in mechanical and chemical defence against herbivores, but may also have the potential to alter physiology by reducing the amount of light absorbed by leaves, lowering temperatures, and reducing water loss. Populations of Datura wrightii Regel in southern California produce 'sticky' plants with glandular trichomes and 'velvety' plants bearing non-glandular trichomes. Because stickiness is inherited as a dominant Mendelian trait, and the proportions of sticky plants vary among populations with the moisture availability of their environment, there may be some ecophysiological differences between trichome types that contribute to their ability to survive in a particular geographic location. To examine the possible physiological significance of trichome variation, we measured the spectral properties, midday gas-exchange rates, and water potentials of D. wrightii leaves from sticky and velvety plants growing in a field experiment. The differences in leaf reflectance (0.9%) and absorptance (1.3%) of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) between trichome types are too small to have any direct physiologically significant effect. Simulations of leaf temperatures based on the difference in leaf absorptances reveal that leaf temperature would be no more than 1°C lower in velvety compared to sticky plants. Gas-exchange measurements revealed no significant difference between types in their transpiration rates or stomatal conductances. In this case, trichome variation may be more important to plant defenses than to physiology.

COST OF GLANDULAR TRICHOMES, A "RESISTANCE" CHARACTER IN DATURA WRIGHTII REGEL (SOLANACEAE).

Models regarding the evolution of plant resistance to herbivory often assume that the primary mechanism maintaining resistance polymorphisms is the balance between benefits of increased resistance to herbivores and costs associated with the production of a resistance character. However, rarely has it been demonstrated that genetically based resistance traits are costly. Here, we document costs associated with the production of glandular trichomes, a resistance character in Datura wrightii that is predominantly under the control of a single gene of large effect. In the absence of herbivores, plants with glandular trichomes (sticky) produced 45% fewer viable seeds than plants with nonglandular trichomes (velvety). Although both plant types flowered with similar frequency, sticky plants matured fewer capsules and fewer of their seeds germinated. The fitness difference between the types in herbivore-free conditions was not mitigated by the addition of water, a potentially limiting resource for sticky plants. Under herbivore pressure, there was no significant fitness difference between the types, although the fitness of velvety plants was still higher than that of sticky plants. This occurred even though velvety plants sustained more herbivore damage than sticky plants and were more likely to be attacked by most herbivore species present. The fitness difference between the plant types was especially reduced when herbivore-attacked plants were watered, which indicates that sticky plants may have higher tolerance for damage than velvety plants when supplied with a potentially limiting resource. Yet, the maintenance of a fitness deficit (albeit small and nonsignificant) for sticky plants when attacked by herbivores indicates no net benefit associated with the production of glandular trichomes in this first year of our study. These results add to our current understanding that herbivore resistance characters can be costly and raise the question of how this genetic polymorphism is maintained in wild populations.