착생식물, 기생식물, 식충식물

Unlike most animals, plants cannot move from one place to another in search of food. To survive, plants must gather light and nutrients by growing and moving in place. Plants obtain food through two different means: autotrophy and heterotrophy.

Autotrophic plants synthesize their own food through photosynthesis. Light energy—captured by chloroplasts—drives the creation of sugars that nourish the plant.

Heterotrophs, however, rely on another organism for nourishment. Heterotrophic plants, such as dodder vine, often lack chloroplasts and cannot make their own food.

Dodder vine is a leafless, climbing, plant parasite. It absorbs nutrients from its plant host, causing the host harm or sometimes death. 

Modified root projections called haustoria invade the host plant’s vascular tissues to divert water and nutrients for the parasite’s growth. Dodder can also spread to neighboring plant hosts, creating a nutritional supply system for itself.

The staghorn fern has chloroplasts and is, hence, an autotroph. Staghorn fern illustrates a different kind of nutritional adaptation—it is an epiphyte or “air plant,” that grows on other plants, such as trees, for physical support. 

Epiphytes benefit