Alle Vorträge (mit Ausnahme der Jubiläumsrede) werden auf Englisch sein. Während der Pausen werden Erfrischungsgetränke und Snacks angeboten
All lectures, except for the Anniversary speech, will be in English. There will be some refreshments and snacks during the breaks.
Freitag / Friday (24.05.2024)
| 11:00 | Eröffnungsrede / Opening Speech |
| 11:30 | Manfred Edlinger / Daniel Rohrauer Hortus Schoenbrunensis and the history of carnivorous plants |
| 12:20 | Caroline Ivesic Snatching Sundews — Comparative Analyses of Tentacle Motion in Two Species of Drosera |
| 13:10 | Pause / Break |
| 13:40 | Dr. Kadeem Gilbert Exploring Nepenthes pH regulation |
| 14:30 | Prof. Dr. hab. Bartosz Jan Płachno Cyto-architecture of Byblis glands based on electron microscopy after conventional and cryo-preparation |
| 15:20 | Pause / Break |
| 15:35 | Alexander Dietrick The Drosera of Tropical & Sub-Tropical Africa |
| 16:25 | Hendré Barnard Exploration and conservation status of Drosera regia in South Africa |
| 17:10 | Ende / End |
Samstag / Saturday (25.05.2024)
| 10:00 | François Sockhom Mey The diversity of pitcher plants in Peninsular Malaysia: a taxonomic update |
| 10:50 | Pause / Break |
| 11:00 | PD Dr. habil. Andreas Fleischmann Threats and conservation of carnivorous plants in the 21th Century |
| 11:50 | Fernando Rivadavia Carnivorous plants of the Amazonian Floodplains |
| 12:40 | Pause / Break |
| 13:40 | Prof. Dr. Victor Amoroso Exploring Pitcher Plants in Southern Philippines |
| 14:30 | Pause / Break |
| 14:45 | Jubiläumsvortrag / Anniversary speech (in deutsch / in German) Frei zugänglich / Open to the public |
| 15:45 | Pause / Break |
| 16:00 | Thilo Krueger From Karl von Hügel to citizen science on Facebook: The incredible natural history of the West Australian Drosera microphylla complex |
| 16:50 | Mateusz Wrazidlo Arctic Oasis Expedition – in search of the northernmost carnivorous plant |
| 17:40 | Ende / End |
Sonntag / Sunday (26.05.2024)
| 10:00 | Dr. Mitsuyasu Hasebe Molecular mechanisms that evolved botanical carnivory |
| 10:50 | Pause / Break |
| 11:00 | Dr. Ulrike Bauer How to make a springboard trap |
| 11:50 | PD Dr. Simon Poppinga Biomechanics of snapping, reopening, and narrowing in the trap of Dionaea muscipula |
| 12:40 | Pause / Break |
| 13:40 | Luís Rodrigues Unveiling São Mamede’s Hidden Treasure: Discovering the Enigmatic Drosophyllum lusitanicum |
| 14:30 | Pause / Break |
| 14:45 | Oliver Gluch Pinguicula species endemic to the Eastern and Southern mountain ranges in Spain |
| 15:35 | Pause / Break |
| 15:50 | Dr. Tanya Renner Are carnivorous plants heterotrophic? |
| 16:40 | Carson Trexler Progress Report on ICPS-Sponsored Conservation Projects for Endangered Sarracenia in Alabama (remote) |
| 17:30 | Ende / End |
Änderungen im Ablauf und der Voträge (Themen als auch Anzahl) vorbehalten.
Number of lectures as well as times and titles are subject to change.
Zusammenfassung / Summaries
Prof. Dr. Victor Amoroso (Philippines)
Exploring Pitcher Plants in Southern Philippines
Summary: This paper presents the richness of Nepenthes in several mountains in Mindanao, their distribution and assessment of the conservation and ecological status. The presentation will also highlight the discovery of species new to science involving the participation of experts, members of cultural groups and forest guards.
Bio: Victor B. Amoroso is University Professor Emeritus and a retired Career Scientist III of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Civil Service Commission. He was elected as an Outstanding Young Scientist in 1991 and elected as a member of the National Academy of Science and Technology as an Academician in 2018.
He obtained both his M.S. and Ph.D. (Botany) from the University of the Philippines, Diliman and B.S. from Siliman University, wherein he is recognized as an outstanding alumnus of both universities.
Dr. Amoroso is also the founding director of the Center for Biodiversity Research & Extension in Mindanao.
He has spent decades of his life in teaching, mentoring and multidisciplinary, collaborative research. His dedication on working with the morphology and taxonomy of ferns and lycophytes, gymnosperms and some flowering plants opened doors for discoveries of several new species and new records of ferns and flowering plants in the Philippines. He has published 155 articles on Scopus-Indexed Journals.
Hendré Barnard (South Africa)
Exploration and conservation status of Drosera regia in South Africa
Summary: Drosera regia is a poorly understood, giant, ancestral sundew species found in a small range in South Africa, said to only be found at 1-2 locations and is generally considered a highly endangered species. Recent fieldwork and historical records suggest it may be a little safer than we thought. In this talk Hendré will recount hard-earned discoveries about the populations and threats to this magnificant species with prospects for future discovery and conservation work.
Bio: Hendré Barnard is a Masters student at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa, performing a MSc in Plant Biotechnology through study of in-vitro conservation of endangered Cape orchids, with an undergraduate background in Biodiversity and Ecology as well as Applied Plant Physiology in a horticultural background. In his spare time over the past 3 years he has travelled extensively to photograph and study the carnivorous plants of the Cape Floristic region
Dr Ulrike Bauer (United Kingdom)
How to make a springboard trap
Summary: Two species of pitcher plant, Nepenthes gracilis and N. pervillei, both use the pitcher lid to trap prey. When falling rain drops hit the lid from above, insects foraging or sheltering on the underside are catapulted into the pitcher. In my talk, I will explain how the trap works, highlight the adaptations that converted the pitcher lid into a rain-powered springboard, and explore how a complex, multi-component trait such as springboard trapping could have evolved independently in two phylogenetically and geographically distinct species.
Bio: Ulrike Bauer is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Exeter in the UK. Her lab uses pitcher plants to understand how plants deal with the physics in their life and exploit mechanical mechanisms to their advantage. Within this biomechanical context, Ulrike studies trap function, development, ecology and evolution in lab and field, on all scales from surface nanostructures to whole plants.
Alexander Dietrick (USA)
The Drosera of Tropical & Sub-Tropical Africa
Summary: When compared to the Cape Floral Region, which contains over thirty species of Drosera, tropical & sub-tropical Africa are relatively species-poor, with a combined total of just sixteen recognized species.
However, through recent expeditions, an increase in citizen science participation, and herbarium digitization efforts, that number could almost double. Alexander Dietrick will recount recent rediscoveries, reveal some of these new species, and share observations of rarely-seen Drosera from his travels across tropical Africa.
Bio: Alexander Dietrick is from Las Vegas, USA and studied Evolutionary Biology at the University of Nevada-Reno. During the last 4 years, he’s traveled to various parts of Africa including Madagascar & the Democratic Republic of Congo in an effort to learn more about the Drosera of the region.
PD Dr. habil. Andreas Fleischmann (Germany)
Threats and conservation of carnivorous plants in the 21th Century
Summary: Carnivorous plants are habitat specialists and as such are sensitive indicators of habitat degradation, many of them being severely endangered by the numerous man-made threats to global biodiversity in the Anthropocene. Out of the 860 species of carnivorous plants known world-wide, a large portion are classified threatened, one forth of them at the risk of extinction, i.e. their natural populations are critically endangered or facing extinction. The talk will 1) provide an overview on the major threats to carnivorous plant populations in the 21th Century, 2) illustrate examples of rare and endangered species and their losses in the past decades and 3) evaluate measures for their conservation and long-time survival (such as in-situ and ex-situ conservation programs).
Bio: PD Dr. Andreas Fleischmann is research scientist and curator of flowering plants at Munich Herbarium (Botanische Staatssammlung München) and lecturer for Systematic Botany at the University of Munich (LMU). His research focuses on the systematics, taxonomy, phylogeny, evolution and ecology of carnivorous plants and their organismic interactions. In the past 20 years, Andreas has studied carnivorous plants in their natural habitats across the globe. In his free time, he is carnivorous plant grower and volunteering in nature conservation.
Dr. Kadeem Gilbert (USA)
Exploring Nepenthes pH regulation
Summary: The pH of the digestive fluid is an important part of the biology of Nepenthes pitchers. As the enzymes that the plant produces are most efficient in highly acidic conditions (e.g., pH 2), pitchers have evolved the ability to actively lower their fluid pH—just as animal stomachs do. Despite this low pH optimum needed for efficient digestion, there is a lot of variation in fluid pH levels observed across different Nepenthes species. For example, some species like the leaf litter-eating N. ampullaria maintain relatively mild pH levels around pH 4-5: not only able to lower their pH, but also able to raise it to actively buffer against acidity below a certain threshold. Differences in fluid pH levels have implications not only for prey digestion, but also for the plants’ interactions with organisms living inside that miniature aquatic environment, e.g. symbiotic insect larvae and diverse microbes. More recently, I have found that not only do these plants regulate pH levels inside their pitchers, but Nepenthes can also manipulate pH levels on the outer surfaces of their leaf-like lamina structures as well. In this talk, I will discuss some of my work investigating within- and between-species diversity in Nepenthes pH regulation, and the consequences of those species differences for their symbiotic interactions. I will also discuss potential molecular pathways involved in the pH regulating responses of their pitcher and lamina tissues.
Bio: Kadeem Gilbert is an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University, based at the Kellogg Biological Station and affiliated with the Department of Plant Biology and program in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior. He began his faculty position in August 2021. Prior to that he was a USDA-NIFA postdoctoral fellow at Penn State University from 2019-2021. He earned his BS in Applied Ecology from Cornell University in 2012 and his PhD from the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University in 2019, where he studied the ecology and evolution of pitcher trait diversity in Nepenthes and their interactions with symbiotic insects and microbes. Currently, he continues to work on plant symbioses in carnivorous as well as non-carnivorous plants, and his lab also works on varied projects on other aspects of the biology of carnivorous plants.
Oliver Gluch (Germany)
Pinguicula species endemic to the Eastern and Southern mountain ranges in Spain
Summary: The lecture will show biological and ecological aspects of several Pinguicula species endemic to the Eastern and Southern mountain ranges in Spain. The presentation includes habitat information of P. dertosensis, P. casperiana, P. submediterranea, P. mundi, P. tejedensis and P. saetabensis.
Bio: Oliver Gluch is an agronomist from Germany and works in the field of plant biotechnology and breeding in a multinational chemical company. His passion to Pinguicula species started around 30 years ago and his is growing a large number of Pinguicula species in his greenhouse. For more than 20 years he is regularly executing field trips to Pinguicula habitats around the world. Oliver is author of 2 Pinguicula species and is co-author of the 2 books „Pinguicula in Latin America“ and „Pinguicula of the Temperate North“.
Dr. Mitsuyasu Hasebe (Japan)
Molecular mechanisms that evolved botanical carnivory
Summary: The enigmatic evolution of carnivorous plants from their non-carnivorous ancestors remains one of the unresolved mysteries in evolutionary biology. Recent strides in genome comparisons and the analysis of molecular mechanisms governing carnivorous traits are progressively lifting the veil on this fascinating puzzle. This presentation aims to summarize our recent research efforts, exploring the following questions: 1) How do Sarracenia purpurea and Cephalotus follicularis form their unique pitchers? 2) How did carnivorous plants convergently acquire digestive enzymes? 3) How do Drosera and Dionaea sense and transmit mechanical signals? 4) How does Dionaea memorize mechanical stimuli within 30 seconds? and 5) How do stimuli to a few tentacles of Drosera result in the synchronized movement of all tentacles and the leaf blade?
Bio: Dr. Mitsuyasu Hasebe is a professor at the National Institute for Basic Biology (NIBB) in Okazaki, Japan. His research group is dedicated to investigating the molecular mechanisms and evolution of carnivorous traits, employing genetic modifications in Drosera rotundifolia, Dionaea muscipula, and Cephalotus follicularis.
Caroline Ivesic (Austria)
Snatching Sundews — Comparative Analyses of Tentacle Motion in Two Species of Drosera
Authors: Caroline Ivesic, Wolfram Adlassnig, Marianne Koller-Peroutka, Linda Kress and Ingeborg Lang (all Authors: University of Vienna)
Summary: Drosera, Droseraceae, catch prey with sticky tentacles. Both Australian Drosera allantostigma and widespread D. rotundifolia show three types of anatomically different tentacles: short, peripheral, and snap-tentacles. The latter two are capable of active, directional bending toward prey objects. Tentacle motion was analysed after mechanical, chemical, and electrical stimulation with respect to response rate (RR), response time (RT), and angular velocity (AV). Compared to D. rotundifolia, D. allantostigma responds more frequently and faster; the tentacles bend with higher angular velocity.
Snap-, and peripheral tentacles do not differ in any movement parameters when triggered electrically. However, a significant difference between tentacle types can be found for RR and AV when triggered chemically and mechanically. The RR for chemical and electrical stimuli are similar, and higher than the rates for mechanical stimulus. In general, snap-tentacles react less frequently to both stimuli than peripheral tentacles. The lower response rates in this tentacle type are accompanied by slower response and by a significant increase of the observed angular velocity. The response time is not dependent on stimulus type.
The higher motility in D. allantostigma indicates increased dependence on mechanical prey capture, and a reduced role of adhesive mucilage. The same tentacle types are present in both species and show motility patterns toward a species-specific functionalization. The lower response rate of snap-tentacles might be a safety measure against accidental triggering, since the motion of snap-tentacles is irreversible and tissue damaging. Furthermore, tentacles seem to discern stimuli and respond specifically. The established model of stereotypical tentacle movement may not fully explain these observations.
Bio: Caroline Ivesic, hailed from Luxembourg, and studied Biology with a focus on ecology at the University of Vienna. She started sundew research in 2018 and carried this fascinating topic through her Master´s degree and further into her ongoing PhD project. She has a strong foundation in ecological field work, plant metabolomics, biostatistics, and microscopy. Her acquired skillset and dedication to this field enabled the in depth study of movement physiology of tentacles, which will be the main topic of this talk.
Thilo Krueger (Australia / Germany)
From Karl von Hügel to citizen science on Facebook: The incredible natural history of the West Australian Drosera microphylla complex
Summary: The Drosera microphylla complex is a group of closely related carnivorous plants from southwest-Australia that produce a stunning diversity of different flower colours. This presentation will provide an overview of the natural and taxonomic history of these species that started with a collection by Austrian nobleman and naturalist Karl von Hügel who collected the first herbarium specimen of the complex during an expedition to Australia in 1834. This very important specimen now represents the holotype of Drosera microphylla and is preserved at the Herbarium of the Natural History Museum in Vienna. Additional herbarium collections made in the 19th and early 20th centuries proved to represent potentially separate species, although their true identities remained a mystery to most botanists. Following two decades of fieldwork, thorough studies of these herbarium collections, and crucial contributions by citizen scientists and social media, it was recently established that the Drosera microphylla complex comprises nine distinct species. Two of these new species were re-discovered in a wildflower Facebook group almost 170 years after they were first collected, highlighting the importance of citizen science for such taxonomic research. All nine species of the complex will be introduced with numerous pictures and information about their taxonomic history, distribution, and potential threats.
Bio: Thilo Krueger is a PhD student at Curtin University (Perth, Western Australia) researching carnivorous plants. He is particularly interested in their ecology, taxonomy, and conservation, primarily studying them by field research throughout Western Australia. Currently, he is researching plant-animal interactions such as prey spectra and pollinators, describing new species, and preparing assessments of the conservation status of potentially threatened species.
François Sockhom Mey (France)
The diversity of pitcher plants in Peninsular Malaysia: a taxonomic update
Summary: The last few years have seen renewed interest in the Nepenthes of Peninsular Malaysia, with several new species described from previously poorly botanised regions and also as a direct outcome of improved understanding of the endemic species complexes. The latter has largely resulted from extensive herbarium studies critically supported by targeted expeditions intended both to document in the living state the full range of species variation across the peninsula and to relocate poorly known species at their infrequently visited type localities. This lecture will introduce the audience to the latest species described from Peninsular Malaysia with some belonging to the recently defined Nepenthes macfarlanei complex, a group of species with conspicuous hairs under the lid.
Bio: François Sockhom Mey is a taxonomist and botanical artist specialized in carnivorous plants. He has studied their systematics and ecology in various regions with particular interest in Nepenthes pitcher plants of which he has named a number of species. He is also and awarded botanical artist and has illustrated dozens of new species and produced commission work for publication or private collections.
Prof. Dr. hab. Bartosz Jan Płachno (Poland)
Cyto-architecture of Byblis glands based on electron microscopy after conventional and cryo-preparation
Authors: Bartosz J. Płachno (Jagiellonian University), Peter K. Hepler (University of Massachusetts at Amherst), Piotr Świątek (University of Silesia in Katowice), Irene Lichtscheidl (University of Vienna)
Summary: The Australian rainbow plant Byblis has developed sticky trapping leaves independently from its sister clades such as e.g. Pinguicula, although the morphology of their glandular apparatus is in close resemblance. For understanding of glandular physiology, especially the production of secretions, analysis of the cellular ultrastructure is needed, and we therefore submitted Byblis liniflora to transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results from conventional preparation for TEM by chemical fixation were underpinned by submitting cells to cryo-preparation, i.e. high-pressure freezing and freeze-substitution.
This lecture will show the cytology of the various cell types of Byblis liniflora in relation to their functions.
Bio: Dr. hab. Bartosz Jan Płachno is Professor at the Department of Plant Cytology and Embryology in the Institute of Botany at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. His research focusses on structure of plants and their cells, with special emphasize on developmental biology.
PD Dr. Simon Poppinga (Germany)
Biomechanics of snapping, reopening, and narrowing in the trap of Dionaea muscipula
Summary: The Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) is a remarkable shape-shifter, as its traps can switch between different geometric configurations, i.e. the open, closed and constricted states. These transitions are partly even reversible, for example, when the trap reopens after an unsuccessful prey capture attempt. In my talk, I will explain this complex behavior from a mechanical-engineering point of view, highlight the functional robustness as well as the morphological constraints of this trap system, and give an outlook on the technical applicability of the fundamental functional principles.
Bio: PD Dr. Simon Poppinga is senior lecturer and scientific director of the Botanical Garden at the TU Darmstadt, Germany. His research focuses on the biomechanics and functional morphology of plants and animals in a variety of contexts, e.g. prey capture, dispersal, and attachment. In addition, he has a strong interest in abstracting working principles for biomimetic transfer to engineered structures and materials, contributing to the development of smart future technologies.
Dr. Tanya Renner (USA)
Are carnivorous plants heterotrophic?
Summary: Carnivorous plants have evolved multiple mechanisms to obtain essential nutrients from non-soil sources, both structurally and chemically. These adaptive changes are reflected in both the nuclear and chloroplast genomes, with remarkable cases of gene gain and loss. During this presentation, we will explore recent advances to understand the molecular evolution of distantly related carnivorous plants, especially with regard to their biochemistry and physiology. In particular, we will investigate the question of whether carnivorous plants are heterotropic by evaluating genetic and isotopic evidence.
Bio: Dr. Tanya Renner is an Associate Professor of Entomology at The Pennsylvania State University. Her work with carnivorous plants started as a Ph.D. student at the University of California Berkeley, when she began to explore phylogenetic relationships among the carnivorous Caryophyllales (Nepenthes, Drosera, Dionaea, and relatives) and the evolution of their traits and digestive enzymes. Today, Tanya uses both plants and insects as models to study evolutionary adaptations as they relate to chemical and structural defense.
Fernando Rivadavia (Brazil)
Carnivorous plants of the Amazonian Floodplains
Summary: Carnivorous plant species are well known from a wide diversity of habitats including seasonally humid environments in Australia, fynbos of South Africa, rainforests of southeast Asia, sandstone highlands of South America, and numerous types of wetland habitats in the northern hemisphere. Yet very little is known about the species of carnivorous plants native to the Amazonian lowlands, and even less about their ecology along river floodplains. This is in large part due to the enormous difficulties involved in exploring the Amazon Basin, which encompasses an area approximately equivalent to the contiguous United States of America. The Amazon Basin stretches across nine countries (Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and France/French Guiana), representing 40% of the South American continent. Most of this region is relatively inaccessible, requiring significant time, resources & meticulous planning to successfully travel the huge distances required. Safety is also always a huge concern, since „treatable“ accidents or illnesses can quickly escalate if you are several days distant from the nearest city, in a region where speedy communications are not yet the norm.
In this presentation, you will hear about some of the experiences and adventures that Fernando has had exploring the Amazon Basin. Also, you will learn about several rare carnivorous plant species that have only been seen by a few scientists and enthusiasts, some of which were only recently described, or which hadn’t been rediscovered in decades or even centuries. Last of all, you will be amazed by their unusual habitats and ecology, including the incredible aquatic sundews that somehow manage to survive several months out of every year while completely submerged by Amazonian rivers, under meters of murky water.
Bio: Fernando Rivadavia is a biologist from Brazil with a passion for carnivorous plants — especially the non-pitchering species. Over the past four decades, he has dabbled in their cultivation, ecology, taxonomy, systematics, cytogenetics, and molecular phylogeny. Nothing makes Fernando happier than to be sweaty, muddy, exhausted, and covered in bug bites, as long as he is exploring remote locations of the world to study rare or new carnivorous plant species in their natural habitats.
Luís Rodrigues (Portugal)
Unveiling São Mamede’s Hidden Treasure: Discovering the Enigmatic Drosophyllum lusitanicum
Summary: Join us on a fascinating expedition into the São Mamede Mountains of Portalegre, Portugal, where I have made a visit to an interesting site: a rare red hue coloration of Drosophyllum lusitanicum population. These crimson-hued specimens are an extraordinary rarity, and we’re privileged to share our firsthand encounters with them. Through our exploration, we’ll „dig“ into the habitat, ecology, and unique characteristics of this carnivorous plant species. Our journey will shed light on the significance of conservation efforts in preserving such remarkable botanical treasures.
Bio: Luís Rodrigues is passionate about plant biotechnology, holding a master’s degree in the field. For over a decade, he has nurtured a fascination for cultivating and studying carnivorous plants. Beyond his academic pursuits, Luís is an enthusiastic advocate for the conservation of these unique species, aiming to inspire others to explore the fascinating interaction between plants and their environment. His dedication to studying carnivorous plants represents not just a hobby but a lasting commitment to understanding and preserving botanical diversity.
Carson Trexler (USA) – Remote
Progress Report on ICPS-Sponsored Conservation Projects for Endangered Sarracenia in Alabama
Summary: I will present early 2024 progress reports on the Green Pitcher Plant Restoration Project in Northeast Alabama, and on the seaward Alabama coastal plain sites maintained by The Nature Conservancy. Time permitting, I will also compare the conservation context of these different regions to highlight their distinct and critical attributes, including their ecology and site ownership, that affect the conservation status and goals for these various sites. I aim to demonstrate the importance of conservation programs like these for the study of the genus Sarracenia and their ecologies on the gulf coast. I most respectfully ask for attendee donations to the ICPS conservation fund so we can continue to support these causes – the ICPS cannot support them next year without donations!
Bio: I have been on the ICPS Board of Directors since 2020, and a member since 2007. My first encounter with botany was at the 2008 ICPS conference in Sydney and Southwest Australia, where the value of a diverse international community united by a common cause permanently impressed me. I have since attended ICPS conferences in 2014 in Cairns, Australia; 2016 at Kew, UK; 2018 in Santa Rosa, USA; and 2023 in Himeji, Japan. I worked in Sarracenia horticulture from 2017 to 2023, dropping my commercial projects altogether last year to pursue conservation and botany more-or-less full-time.
Mateusz Wrazidlo (Poland)
Arctic Oasis Expedition – in search of the northernmost carnivorous plant
Summary: The Svalbard archipelago holds a notable place in the history of exploration of the northern polar regions. Its rugged, inhospitable shores acted as silent witnesses to daring endeavors undertaken by generations of adventurous spirits, from XVII century Dutch whalers to legendary explorers such as Salomon Andrée, Walter Wellman or Roald Amundsen.
Despite being an increasingly accessible destination most of this arctic frontier still remains wild, difficult to reach and relatively untouched. Recent scientific research shows that the seemingly well-known islands still withhold places full of secrets only waiting to be uncovered. One such area is Wijdefjorden – characterized by its distinctive environmental conditions from a warmer, postglacial period dating back to about 5000 years ago, making the surrounding valleys a relic „Arctic Oasis“. Many species of flora which had previously not been known to occur on the archipelago were discovered during recent research expeditions, including Pinguicula alpina, which turned out to be the world’s northernmost carnivorous plant habitat.
In August 2022 an international team of explorers finally got an opportunity to set sail from the Norwegian town of Longyearbyen. The crew sailed several days into the rarely visited Wijdefjorden, exploring the wild shores of Svalbard and visiting its pristine natural sanctuaries. Their mission was to find the northernmost habitats of Pinguicula alpina.
Bio: Mechanical engineer by trade, plant geek by heart. Since his early childhood he’s been nurturing his passion for rare (especially carnivorous) plants, with a particular focus on the montane flora of the Guiana Highlands. Co-organizer and member of numerous botanical & photography expeditions. Fellow of The Explorers Club and the Royal Geographical Society.