system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
How were carnivorous plants able to evolve as they did?

Let me preface this question by saying I have always been a firm believer of evolution. However, I've puzzled over many strange results of evolution and how they got to be where they are. Carnivorous plants are one example. How can a plant GRADUALLY evolve the ability to trap insects and absorb them without use of its roots? Did it just start out as a mutation that made a plant kind of sticky? It seems like such a radical change and the intermediate steps don't necessarily seem beneficial enough to ensure greater than average reproductive success.


Edit: Thank you for all your informative responses! This was my first reddit post since the 4 years I've been lurking, and it is very encouraging.
gpt
These plants are usually found in regions with poor soil quality meaning that they may only receive vital nutritients when animals die around them. They could hav evolved to simply inhibit  the movement  of insects with a sticky surface and gradually moved toward movement themselves. Once movement was common, natural selection picked the most efficient animal. Ones with the best energy efficiency survive and yield todays carniverous plants.