Carnivorous White Pines

I ran across this article that described how white pine can kill insects by utilizing a fungus on its roots. The pine then uses the nitrogen from the decaying insects. Fascinating.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/no...ects-by-proxy/

"The first such nitrogen-chain was discovered in 2001, when John Klironomos and Miranda Hart found that white pine trees can feast on soil-dwelling relatives of insects called springtails, via a fungus that grows on their roots. The fungus kills nearby springtails and delivers their nitrogen to the tree, in return for carbon."

Frank

try this link

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2012/06/21/plants-use-fungi-to-eat-insects-by-proxy/

Thanks Frank and Dave, fascinating stuff!

Kev Bailey wrote:Thanks Frank and Dave, fascinating stuff!

Where did I see an item similar to this recently or perhaps prompted by this research?

Springwatch? Attenborough? QI?

Sounds kind of QI

TimR

Cool!

We are aware of the symbiotic relationships but the killing part is new to me. The rest are old info and is called fertilizing LOL

There is an ongoing biological warfare in every forest waged by plants/trees also. Amazing how these docile and innocent looking things can have such an elaborate survival/adaptive arsenal.