Skip to main content
SWStudyWalks Search

Biology / Unit 11   Bio 2593 short lesson, about 20 seconds

"Carnivorous Plants Eat Insects Instead of Photosynthesizing"

Captions available

The idea

Picturing a carnivorous plant as living off insects overstates a real adaptation — prey supplies supplementary nitrogen, per Bio 2591, while photosynthesis supplies energy.

In practice

A sundew deprived of insects still survives and photosynthesizes, though it grows slower in nitrogen-poor soil without that supplement.

Where people slip

This entry states the popular assumption — Bio 2595 gives what prey supplies versus what it does not.

Your place on the trail

Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.

Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it  ·  Sources for Biology