Behaviour of plants

Behaviour of plants

Wednesday, october 21th 2020

Plants need light, air, water, and nutrients to live. Roots absorb the nutrients that are in the ground and water. Tiny creatures called bacteria turn these nutrients into food that the plant can use. But some places don’t have a lot of these nutrients. So some plants adapt. They follow a different plan for survival. Their strategy is to eat insects to live!

Stink Lily, Panama

The stink lily gets its name from its smell. The flower stinks like rotting meat. The smell attracts flies to the plant—and then tricks them! When a fly crawls on the flower, pollen sticks to the fly. Then the fly takes the pollen and leaves it on the next plant it visits. That’s how the stink lily makes new plants.

Venus flytrap, Southern Brazil

The Venus flytrap attracts insects with a sweet odor. When an insect lands on an open leaf, the leaf closes and traps the insect. Then the plant slowly digests the insect over a period of eight to ten days.

Let's discuss

• What do plants need for survival? (light, air, water, nutrients)

•  What are some parts of plants? (roots, leaves, stem)

• How do some plants attract insects? (They stink. They have a sweet odor.) 

•  What happens after plants attract an insect? (They trick it. They trap and eat it. They digest it.)