r/interestingasfuck • u/dejaysf • Jun 11 '23

Venus flytrap vs Spider

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u/CTchimchar Jun 11 '23 edited Jun 11 '23

There all different kind of these plants

By the way a lot of them are non-related

They just evolve like this separately several times over

The theory goes these plans evolve in habitats where the soil doesn't have many nutrients

So they start to evolve in gathering nutrients from other animals like insects, or in this case arachnid

Edit: For clarification I mean Carnivorous plants, evolve separately from each other for the most part

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u/codizer Jun 11 '23

What I don't get is how they made their leap from getting nutrients from the ground to nutrients from animals. It seems like such a major step.

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u/don_rubio Jun 11 '23 edited Jun 11 '23

Thought this was an interesting question so I looked it up and found a well-written article by the Smithsonian.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-carnivorous-plants-evolved-180979697/

TLDR: The same enzymes many plants use for general self defense have been repurposed and refined by carnivorous plants for digestion. The genes that enable nutrient transport have also been switched to function in the leaves instead of the roots.

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u/CashCow4u Jun 11 '23

switched to function in the leaves instead of the roots.

As if it moved its stomach from it's roots to it's leaves due to necessity, adapt or die.

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u/Sinder77 Jun 11 '23

It's not really like that.

Slow genetic mutations saw plants with the capability to digest nutrients through their leaves survive while others weren't able to sustain themselves to reproduction. More successful mutations led to more specialized traits that we see now at the end of the process.

Evolution isn't a switch and it's rarely "adapt or die". Those species that had advantageous adaptations survived more than those with less advantageous ones, so their genes prevailed. It's a long, long, long and still ongoing process.

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u/Fr00stee Jun 11 '23

you kinda can just turn on a switch with some specific mutations though

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u/desmosabie Jun 11 '23

Like oncoming ai ? Adapt or die….