Carnivorous Plants
Posted: May 9, 2005 Filed under: Uncategorized 3 Comments »My 4th grader came home today with a research assignment from his teacher. (for me!) I’m flattered. On the other hand, he is fortunate – how many teachers have a student with parents who dig up information for a living? So the questions were:
1) Do Venus Fly Traps eat hamburgers?
2) What do you call a plant that is both a “producer” and a “consumer” in the ecosystem?
Question 1, while it makes me think of some funny come-back lines, is fairly straightforward. I’m sure the point is whether they eat meat. Just ask Seymour… As an aside, I do think my kids are the only kids on the block that hear “Feed me, Seymour” on a regular basis…. (And in reality they really like bugs – not beef.)
Question 2. Not so easy. I read some serious biology articles. My head hurts a little. I’m not sure I have the answer still. The closest, I think, is “carnivorous plant” from this MadSci page. I admit I got caught up a bit in this page about carnivorous plants.
Anyone out there know the answer? It takes a village, right?
Erm…don’t ALL plants qualify, in a way, as both consumers and producers within an ecosystem?
Unless I don’t remember my school science well, I THINK that plants produce oxygen through photosynthesis, and they consume carbon dioxide and water…and then when they die, they “produce” dead plant material.
Too simple, I guess?
Meanwhile, we LOVE the carnivorous plants web site! MUST spend some time there at lunchtime today!
Janet
I’ve learned a lot about this. And I’ve been told a lot I don’t understand! But evidently, most plants are consumers OR producers. “Production” means the conversion of free carbon into sugars. Plants do this with sunlight. Consumption is everything else living things might do to get energy, i.e., carnivory. (think Venus Fly Trap!) But yes, Janet, some say that decomposition is consumption – but I don’t think that’s what the teacher was looking for. Thanks to all the experts who sent me information! (I have some pretty detailed stuff
Wendy,
I can see that my brain is MUCH too old for modern schooling!!!!
Come of think of it, I’m an educator. Oops…
But then I only talk about things oil-related!
Keep up the good work. I love your musings!
Janet