Oxygen Concentrations Inside the Traps of the Carnivorous Plants Utricularia and Genlisea (Lentibulariaceae)

Abstract

Very small or zero [O(2)], effectively anoxia, is demonstrated in Utricularia and Genlisea traps. This is probably below the critical [O(2)] for prey survival, and causes captured prey to die of suffocation. Internal trap glands and trap commensals are considered to be adapted to facultative anoxia interrupted by limited periods of higher [O(2)] after firings.