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Vol.1 , No. 1, Publication Date: Jun. 7, 2016, Page: 1-8
 determine the quantitative geometric shapes in the upper pitcher peristome and body of <i>N. saranganiensis</i> and (b) determine the ecological traits of the selected wild populations of Nepenthes. High quality photographs of the trap geometry of the plant were taken i.e., the peristome and body shape. The peristome and body shape were studied using a landmark-based methodology that eliminates the effect of variation in the location, orientation, and scale of the specimens. Geographical coordinates, elevation, habitat, air temperature, relative humidity, and animal associates were considered to assess the plant’s ecological traits. Based from the Relative Warps Analysis on the shapes of the peristome and pitcher body of <i>N. saranganiensis</i>, results revealed that the most variable part of the peristome were the lateral and basal regions including the entire structure of the pitcher from the slippery zone, transition zone and digestive zone. Histogram distributions have shown that most of the specimens tend to have wider peristomes and bodies when compared to the shape consensus. Putative functional morphology based from the analysis showed that morphological features of <i>N. saranganiensis</i> exhibits a prominent and developed slippery zone and narrow peristome in relation to its body size as an adaptation for “Dry Syndrome” trapping strategy as this species mainly specialized in prey retention carnivory.&picture=http://www.aascit.org/aascit/decorators/img/journal/809.jpg)
| [1] | John Vincent P. Anino II, Department of Biology, Central Mindanao University, University Town, Musuan, Bukidnon, Philippines. |
| [2] | M. Dave P. Buenavista, Department of Biology, Central Mindanao University, University Town, Musuan, Bukidnon, Philippines. |
This study was conducted to determine the possible trapping strategies of N. saranganiensis Kurata through landmark-based geometric morphometric analysis. Specifically, it aimed to: (a) determine the quantitative geometric shapes in the upper pitcher peristome and body of N. saranganiensis and (b) determine the ecological traits of the selected wild populations of Nepenthes. High quality photographs of the trap geometry of the plant were taken i.e., the peristome and body shape. The peristome and body shape were studied using a landmark-based methodology that eliminates the effect of variation in the location, orientation, and scale of the specimens. Geographical coordinates, elevation, habitat, air temperature, relative humidity, and animal associates were considered to assess the plant’s ecological traits. Based from the Relative Warps Analysis on the shapes of the peristome and pitcher body of N. saranganiensis, results revealed that the most variable part of the peristome were the lateral and basal regions including the entire structure of the pitcher from the slippery zone, transition zone and digestive zone. Histogram distributions have shown that most of the specimens tend to have wider peristomes and bodies when compared to the shape consensus. Putative functional morphology based from the analysis showed that morphological features of N. saranganiensis exhibits a prominent and developed slippery zone and narrow peristome in relation to its body size as an adaptation for “Dry Syndrome” trapping strategy as this species mainly specialized in prey retention carnivory.
Keywords
Functional Morphology, Trapping Strategy, Nepenthes, Geometric Morphometrics, Dry Syndrome
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