Lambir Nepenthes Colour Project (proposal)
From BioDivBorneo2010
Green or Red? Colour Adaptation of Nepenthes gracilis
Chen Dexiang,Thien Tam Luong and Sarah Peprah
Contents |
Introduction
The state of Sarawak has 25 known species of pitcher plants, thus Sarawak has the honor of having the highest diversity of pitcher plants in any region of similar size. Nepenthes gracilis is a member of the Nepenthaceae family and is one of the more common species on the island of Borneo. It has been noted that its aerial pitchers are green and the terrestrial pitchers are purple (or red).
Hypothesis
We hypothesize that the color of the pitchers on a pitcher plant is an adaptive trait ; therefore there will be a height-based distribution of the color of pitcher plants. Hence, we hope to show a correlation between the color of the pitcher with prey abundance in specific heights in order to prove the adaptive nature of color.
Question
Is there a height-based distribution of the color of the pitcher plants? And is it an adaptive trait?
Methods
We are using Nepenthes gracilis as our model organism because it is the most common species and it exhibits both aerial and terrestrial pitchers. There will be two sites for study: the first site being the exposed patch by the roadside 500 meters from HQ and the second being the shaded patch at the foot of the CTFS Lambir plot. At each site, we randomly select 20 green and 20 red pitchers and measure their height from the ground and the number of prey inside the pitcher. In order to account for varying pitcher capacities, the volume of liquid would be measured and be divided by the number of prey. We will determine the color distribution using a histogram, then determine the similarity in prey abundances between both sites by means of chi square and t test.
Equipment
40 falcon tubes, measuring tape, markers, tweezers, hand lens, microscope, petri dish
References
Clark, C. and Ch'ien, L. (2004), Pitcher Plants of Sarawak, Natural History Publications.,Borneo.
