Pitcher plant samples from opposite sides of the globe are surprisingly similar
The natural world is full of examples of what biologists call convergent evolution — instances where unrelated creatures developed similar traits in response to similar evolutionary pressures. But can that convergence include the interactions of different species that evolve under similar conditions? The early evidence, says Leonora Bittleston, suggests the answer is yes. As part of a study conducted while she was a graduate student in the labs of Naomi Pierce, the Sidney A. and John H. Hessel Professor of Biology, and Anne Pringle, the Vilas Distinguished Professor of Botany at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Bittleston found that the “miniature ecosystems” housed in pitcher plants from opposite sides of the world are strikingly similar, suggesting that there may be something about the plants themselves that drives the formation of those communities. The study is described in an Aug. 28 paper published in eLife. “These plants, the Nepenthes in Southeast Asia and Sarracenia in...