Description

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Context:

Currently 220 listed species occupying temperate and tropical habitats throughout the world--the most diverse and widespread genus of carnivorous plants.

About Utricularia

Aspect	Details
Defining Feature	Small hollow pouches actively capture and digest small animals like insect larvae, water worms, and water fleas.
Habitat	Found in lakes, streams, and wetlands worldwide; some species are invasive and have spread into new habitats.
Root System	Do not have roots; typically have a horizontal floating stem with simple or divided leaves.
Bladders	Carnivorous blisters form along the stem, ranging in color from dark to transparent. Bladders trap small organisms using trapdoors triggered by sensory hairs.
Trap Mechanism	When prey touches the hairs, the trapdoor opens within a millisecond, sucks in the prey, and closes in about 2.5 milliseconds.
Flowers	Bisexual and bilaterally symmetrical.

About Keoladeo National Park

Keoladeo National Park, formerly known as Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, is located in the eastern part of Rajasthan.
Declared a national park in 1981, it was renamed Keoladeo for an ancient temple in the park dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva.
It has a strategic location in the middle of the Central Asian migration It covers 2,873 hectares of forests, pastures, wetlands and forest swamps.

Vegetation: The vegetation here is of a dry deciduous type with medium-sized trees and shrubs inside the forest.

Flora: Some of the trees commonly seen in the park are kadam, jamun, babul, kandi, ber, kair and piloo.

Fauna:

Keoladeo is home to more than 360 species of domestic and migratory birds. During the migratory visitor season (approximately October to March), the park hosts birds from all over the world.
Waterfowl from Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, China and Siberia winter in the park, including species such as gadwallis, shovelers, teals, crested ducks, pintails, white-billed grebes, Asian storks, oriental ibises and the rare (perhaps extinct) Siberian crane.
The park is also home to a number of mammals and reptiles – including pythons and other snakes, deer, sambars, jackals, monitor lizards and fishing cats – as well as about 50 species of fish and 25 species of butterflies.
It is a Ramsar site and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Source:

BOTANY.ORG

PRACTICE QUESTION

Q.Consider the following statements about Utricularia (bladderwort):

Utricularia is a carnivorous plant that captures and digests small animals such as insect larvae, water worms, and water fleas using small hollow pouches called bladders.
These plants lack roots and typically have a horizontal floating stem with simple or divided leaves.
Utricularia species are only found in freshwater lakes and streams and are not invasive in any region.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

A) 1 and 2 only

B) 2 and 3 only

C) 1 and 3 only

D) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: A

Explanation:

Statement 1 is correct: Utricularia is a carnivorous plant that captures and digests small animals like insect larvae, water worms, and water fleas using hollow pouches called bladders.

Statement 2 is correct: Utricularia does not have roots; instead, it has a horizontal floating stem with simple or divided leaves.

The bladders trap small organisms using trapdoors, which open when triggered by sensory hairs, closing rapidly after capturing the prey.

Statement 3 is incorrect: While Utricularia is found in freshwater lakes and streams, some species are invasive and have spread into new habitats beyond their native range.