Re: Are carnivorous plants producers or consumers?

To whom it may concern,

You have highlighted the problem that biologists have with trying to categorise everything. Not everything fits neatly into one category.

The carnivorous plants are both producers and consumers. They consume insects to obtain nitrogen and other minerals, which are in short supply. The leaves do photosynthesise and do produce sugars. The leaves of a venus fly trap are only good for trapping insects about half a dozen times. After that it will only function as a photosynthetic leaf. These plants get much more energy from photosynthesis than they do from eating insects and therefore they are more producer than consumer. From personal observation, I can tell you that an individual plant does not frequently trap an insect. This event occurs on an irregular basis and should be considered only as a means to provide minerals. The following site has excellent info on carnivorous plants:

Carnivorous Plants

Richard Kingsley