Introduction Carnivorous plants increase the diversity of habitats otherwise lacking in flora. Pitcher plants may also further increase biodiversity by providing habitats for a range of invertebrates, some of which are endemic to their traps. Conservation of these plants is threatened due to contamination and habitat loss. The invertebrate prey of carnivorous plants may biomagnify trace metals and may act as vectors transferring metals from polluted to non-polluted sites. Moreover, it is widely believed that carnivorous plants are sensitive to stress caused by trace metals, particularly Cu, but there is no empirical evidence to support this view. This work aims to establish if the potentially phytotoxic trace metals Cu and Cd are transferred from prey to pitcher plants and to establish if such transfer effects growth of these plants. Figures The Experiment Sarracenia leucophylla Raf. plants (Fig. 1) were fed maggots (Calliphora vomitoria L.), which had been contaminated via their food either with Cd or Cu. For the Cd treatments, maggot food contained 0, 10, 25 or 50 mg kg -1 Cd, whilst Cu treatments contained 0, 100, 250, or 500 mg kg -1 Cu. Fed maggots were placed in S. leucophylla pitchers weekly for 5 weeks. A further 5 weeks were allowed for digestion of the maggots. Each treatment was replicated 6 times. Samples were harvested after the ten weeks had past and dry mass was determined before analysis by ICP-OES (Cu) or GFAAS (Cd). Results Plants were fed significantly more Cd as treatment rate increased (F = 5.8, P = 0.007; Fig. 2), but feeding these animals to the plant did not significantly affect the shoot concentration (F = 0.56 =, P =0.65). Dry mass of the Cd treated plants did not differ among treatments (F = 2.8, P = 0.70 ) and the correlation between shoot Cd concentration and shoot dry mass was not significant (r s = -0.40, P = 0.07). Cu treatment also resulted in the plants being fed significantly more Cu as treatment rate increased (F= 5.4, P = 0.007; Fig. 3). In contrast to Cd, feeding these animals to the plant significantly increased shoot Cu concentration (F = 3.8, P = 0.03). However, plant mass increased with Cu treatment, but this was not significant (F = 0.58, P = 0.64) and there was no significant correlation between shoot Cu concentration and shoot dry mass (r s = -0.23, P = 0.29). Conclusions Chris Moody & Iain Green The School of Conservation Sciences, Bournemouth University, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5BB. Figure 1. Sarracenia leucophylla plants (left) and the digestive process within the pitcher (right). Microorganisms and microinvertebrates digest flies, etc. falling into the trap. The plant absorbs the materials released. Does this include potentially toxic metals? Despite being challenged by doses of Cd up to 10 times higher than the control, the plants effectively excluded Cd from their shoot tissues. Cd is a highly toxic metal and plants have evolved many mechanisms to bind and detoxify Cd, such as the synthesis of phytochelatins. These mechanisms may have prevented Cd penetrating beyond the epidermal cells. In contrast to the xenobiotic metal Cd, the essential metal Cu was accumulated in the leaf in response increasing dose. Excessive concentrations of free Cu ions can cause toxicity by initiating metabolic reactions that generate reactive oxygen species. However, in contradiction to the theory that carnivorous plants are sensitive to Cu load, we found no deleterious effects on plant biomass production. Figure 2. The effect of feeding S. leucophylla maggots raised on food treatments containing Cd: A) Mass of Cd (mg) fed to plants in the maggots B) The concentration (mg kg -1 ) of Cd in the plant shoots C) The dry mass (g) of plant shoots A) B) C) Trace metal transfer through a novel food chain: Cd and Cu transfer from insect to carnivorous plant Figure 3. The effect of feeding S. leucophylla maggots raised on food treatments containing Cu: A) Mass of Cu (mg) fed to plants in the maggots B) The concentration (mg kg -1 ) of Cu in the plant shoots C) The dry mass (g) of plant shoots A)B) C)