University of Wisconsin-Madison ecologists have played a key role in a petition filed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Friday seeking emergency Endangered Species Act protection for the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula). The petition was written and signed by a national group of experts in conservation and ecology, including Waller and Tom Gibson of UW-Madison. The unique carnivorous plant captures flies and captivates nature lovers, but in the wild is found only in North Carolina and South Carolina. The Venus flytrap uniquely evolved a "snap-trap contraption" that closes in about one-tenth of a second, enveloping its insect prey so rain does not wash the food away before the plant digests it. The flytrap has three hairs in each leaf, and a snap requires triggering more than one hair. "The insect has to hit one hair and then within a limited period hit another," says Don Waller, a professor of botany and noted expert in conservation biology at UW-Madison. "Only after that double signal will the leaf close. It's a pretty clever plant." The plant's home turf is around bogs near Wilmington, in coastal North Carolina. This is a long way from its closest relative, an aquatic plant in South Africa. At stake is what Waller considers one of the most marvelous examples of evolution. "Snaptraps have only evolved once in the 3.7 billion-year history of life on Earth. This species is native to just one area of North America, and represents a unique and fascinating offshoot in the tree of life. Having plants only in greenhouses is like having tigers only in zoos. It's not the same."
Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Botanist leads petition to give Venus Flytrap endangered species protection." ScienceDaily, 21 October 2016.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161021131946.htm
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