Cole+S

Cole S. 2011-2012
 * THE EFFECT ON THE CARNIVOROUS BEHAVIOR OF A VENUS FLY-TRAP AFTER PROVIDING SUPPLEMENTAL NITROGEN AND CALCIUM TO THE SOIL **

The purpose of this experiment was to find out if adding nitrogen and calcium to the soil would affect the carnivorous behavior of a Venus fly-trap. The hypothesis that was concluded after looking at the research was that the Venus fly-trap with additional nitrogen and calcium would eat fewer flies than the Venus fly-traps with only additional nitrogen and the Venus fly-trap with no additional nurturance. Dried blood and lime where added to the soil of one Venus fly-trap, only dried blood was added to the soil of a different Venus fly-trap and no nurturance was added to the other Venus fly-traps. Two flies where put in each section for every one head of a Venus fly-trap. A day was waited. The results that were concluded showed that the Venus fly-traps with additional nitrogen and calcium and the Venus fly-traps with additional nitrogen both ate the same amount of flies as the Venus fly-traps with no additional nurturance. It was also concluded that the heads of the Venus fly-traps with additional nitrogen and calcium and the Venus fly-traps with only the additional nitrogen stayed closed and died while the Venus fly-trap with no additional nurturance stayed alive.

A future experiment that could be made is if a Venus fly-trap is lit up, would the flies be repelled because the trigger hairs and the spikes on the end of the lobes are viable, or would they be attracted because it is glowing and the nectar would shine. This experiment could be improved by getting a habitat that already has sections, and doesn’t have many holes in the lid so that there is no possible ways for the flies to escape or to get into other sections so that the results of the experiment are accurate.