Science Projects Using Carnivorous Plants

Students study the Venus flytrap's "snap trap" mechanism for capturing small insects.

Carnivorous plants have been the objects of study and fascination because of their adaptations to low-nutrient environments such as acidic bogs: they primarily trap and digest small insects. These plants trap their prey through mechanisms such as snap traps, flypaper, pitfall, suction and "lobster" pots. The study of these plants in a variety of science projects provide students with an enhanced understanding of plant habitats and environmental adaptations.

Trigger Sensitivity Project

Students can experiment with the sensitivity of the Venus flytrap trigger mechanism, which traps flies and other small insects in its claw-like trap for the plant to digest. In this project, students use different stimuli, such as small straws, pencil tips, different sized balls of tissue paper, water, alcohol, oil and ground beef to trigger the trap. Keeping a log, students note and compare the mass and weight of specific stimuli and whether they initiate a trigger response. Students can also document what part of the trap --- the edge "eyelashes" or the pink inner area --- reacts to stimuli.

Venus Flytrap Mini Ecosystem

To study the adaptive properties of the Venus flytrap, students can create a mini terrarium. Students cut clear, two-liter plastic bottles horizontally and fill the bottom half with soil --- a peat and sand mixture. After carefully transplanting the Venus flytraps, students study and log the adaptive qualities of this plant by varying the amounts of distilled water and light. Students will also record any changes to the plants' coloring and the number of times of the leaves of a trap will close before it turns black and dies.

Propagation Projects

Students can use leaf cuttings to propagate a variety of carnivorous plants, including sundews, butterworts and Venus flytraps. After cutting healthy and mature leaves at the base of their petioles with a sharp, single-edge razor, students can either use soil or water to generate plantlets. With soil, students place the entire leaf right side up, laid flatly on finely-chopped green sphagnum. Then place these leaf cuttings in a shaded plastic bag to create humid conditions. With the water, place the leaf cuttings in a clean jar or dish, covered, with distilled water. Place jar in a warm spot with indirect light. In several weeks the plantlets will develop root systems and be ready for transplant into a soil mixture.

Pitcher Plant Digestion Enzymes

In this project, students can determine whether a particular pitcher plant extract contains digestive enzymes. Students fill four tubes: one contains insect extract; one, plant extract; one, both plant and insect extracts; and a fourth with a neutral substance. After centrifuging and heating each sample to 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (to simulate a tropical environment), students separate proteins using electrophesis. This helps determine which extract contains digestive enzymes.

References

• Botanical Society of America: Carnivorous Plants / Insectivorous Plants
• Education.com, Inc.: Sensitive Plants
• Scienceprojectlab.com: Flytrap Experiments
• The Huntington: Mini-Ecosystems: Venus Flytrap Terrariums as a Study of Plant Adaptations
• Carnivorous Plant Nursery: Propagating Carnivorous Plants
• juliantrubin.com: Will Nepenthes (Pitcher Plant) Extracts Contain Enzymes that Digest Insect Proteins