Question

Carnivorous plants exhibit nutritional adaptation. Citing an example explain this fact.

Answer 1

Carnivorous plants:

Carnivorous plants are usually found in nitrogen-deficient soil. Although they are autotrophic, they are likely to be deficient in nitrogen. In order to overcome that, they have evolved to be carnivorous. They have morphological modifications (pitfalls, traps, sticky mucus etc.) which help them to trap insects in order to fulfil their nitrogen requirements. This is referred to as nutritional adaptation.

Nepenthes:

In Nepenthes (pitcher plant), the leaf lamina is modified into a pitcher-like structure to trap the insects. The inner surface of the pitcher secretes digestive enzymes to digest the insect and derive the nutrients.