No.101 Seminar ： Mysterious life of plants that have lost their photosynthetic ability and eat fungi
- Kenji suetsugu (The Hakubi Center for Advanced Research)
- 2015/10/06 4:30pm
- The Hakubi Center for Advanced Research (iCeMS West Wing 2F, Seminar Room)
- Students and Researchers at Kyoto Univ.
- Japanese with English slide text
Summary
Heterotrophic plants have long attracted interest due to their bizarre morphological features. However, while much is known about their host associations, there are only a few reports regarding other life history traits, such as pollination biology and seed dispersal system. Heterotrophy has often been considered an adaptation to low-irradiance niches that possess few autotrophic competitors. However, such an environment presents further problems for the plant because (i) effective pollinators such as bees are scarce in habitats with low light intensity and (ii) wind seed-dispersal system is ineffective below closed canopies where wind flow is limited. I will introduce several novel pollination and seed dispersal systems which are likely the results of transitions to heterotrophic life style.
Before the seminar, Dr. Okita (4th batch) will give a brief talk about his overseas study experience (University of Oxford, UK) supported by Super John Mung Program.