Re: maps

Liane Cochran-Stafira (lcochran@midway.uchicago.edu)
Thu, 14 Dec 1995 13:12:48 -0600 (CST)

Juerg,
Thanks much for the offer to collect samples. I'll get the details to you
in a few months as we head toward spring. You're right about the value of
knowing how the plants were introduced. For the insect symbionts such as
the mosquito, fly, and midge, I suspect that the number of individuals that
might have been introduced along with the plants would probably not have
been sufficient to maintain a breeding population. The females only lay
their eggs in newly opened pitchers, and there might not have been enough
pitchers available immediately following transplanting to provide
oviposition sites. In addition, the mosquitoes are particularly sensitive
to humidity levels, and don't do well outside of a wet bog environment.
Depending on the habitat chosen for the transplants, they might not have
survived the local environmental conditions. For the microorganisms it's
hard to tell whether they could survive the transplant operation. Bacteria
and fungi would have no problem, but protozoa and the small invertebrates
such as nematodes and rotifers might not. It will be very interesting to
see what's there.

Liane

> Martin Zevenbergen asked me for Sarr. purpurea sites in Switzerland in
>early summer but I forgot to answer him (sorry Martin). I will send you
>pitcher fluid of these ex situ plants next summer and I'll try to find out
>when they were introduced here (as far as I know it was in the last
>century). I think it makes a difference whether seeds were introduced or
>living plants (in the last case parasites/symbionts would be likely to be
>introduced too). I guess it's impossible to find out for sure which stage
>of the plant was introduced and where the material came from. Let me know
>details concerning the material you need.
>
>Juerg
>
>___________________________________________________
>Dr. Juerg Steiger, Institut fuer Aus-, Weiter- und Fortbildung IAWF
>University of Bern, Inselspital 37a, CH-3010 Bern, Switzerland
>Office: +41 (0)31 632 98 87, Home: +41 (0)31 972 19 79
>Fax: +41 (0)31 632 98 71, E-mail: steiger@iae.unibe.ch
>Web: http://www.iawf.unibe.ch/index.htp

Liane Cochran-Stafira
Dept. of Ecology and Evolution
The University of Chicago
1101 East 57th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637-5415
phone: 312-702-1930
e-mail: lcochran@midway.uchicago.edu