A sticky situation

Even when the beaver ponds are empty of beavers, they are home to a wide diversity of other inhabitants.  Insects are especially numerous -- and where insects abound, so too can their consumers.  In particular, the beaver ponds provide an excellent habitat for carnivorous plants, such as pitcher plants and sundews.

A patch of sundews (Drosera sp.).

Around some of the beaver ponds, the sundews form a red carpet that is both enticing and deadly (at least for insects).

A close-up of the leaves with their sticky tentacles.

Each small sundew leaf is studded with dozens of red tentacles, each of which ends in a dewy ball that glistens in the sunlight.

Another view of the leaves.

These sweet droplets attract insects near, then stick to and engulf any hapless insect that comes into contact with them.

A crane fly (Tipuloidea) caught by the sundew.

Insects trapped in this way are digested by the plant, providing an important supplement to the boggy, nutrient-poor soil.

Purple insect eater

In most consumer-resource interactions between plants and insects, the plant is the one that gets consumed.  However, a few groups of plants have been able to reverse the relationship.  Insects and other small animals come to these plants for a meal, only to become one themselves.

A purple pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea) in bloom.

One of these carnivorous plants, the purple pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea), lures visitors onto its leaves with colorful markings and nectar secretions.

Dead insects, including a moth, in a pitcher plant leaf.

Once on a leaf, visitors become trapped due to the leaf's waxy surface, steep angle, and downwards pointing hairs -- and possibly due to being drugged (a narcotic compound has been found in the secretions of a related species, S. flava).  Even flying insects fall into and then drown in the pool of rainwater at the base of the leaf.

Flies and springtails trapped in another leaf.

This water also contains digestive enzymes secreted by the leaf and a community of bacteria, which together break down the victims of the trap.  The leaf can then absorb nutrients that the plant might not otherwise be able to obtain from the poor quality soil in its boggy habitat.

A carabid beetle attempting to escape the pitfall trap.