How has the pitcher plant adapted to its environment?

Sarracenia rubra. Adaptation. Sarracenia rubra, has created an advantage over most of the other plants in their environment. The pitcher plant is able to obtain nutrients from insects and other prey, which gives Sarracenia rubra a gain in the competition to survive. read more

They drown the insect, and the body of it is gradually dissolved. This may occur by bacterial action (the bacteria being washed into the pitcher by rainfall) or by enzymes secreted by the plant itself. Furthermore, some pitcher plants contain mutualistic insect larvae, which feed on trapped prey, and whose excreta the plant absorbs. read more

Through a mechanism of digestion, the prey is converted into a solution of amino acids, peptides, phosphates, ammonium and urea, from which the plant obtains its mineral nutrition (particularly nitrogen and phosphorus). Carnivorous plants occur in locations where the soil is too poor in minerals and/or too acidic for most plants to be able to grow. read more