Our expedition began and ended at Northern Kentucky University, located just south of Cincinnati, Ohio.  NKU's Department of Biological Sciences has a strong commitment to provide undergraduate students the opportunity to experience scientific research first-hand with the guidance of the Department's excellent faculty.  Our team was made up of 3 faculty members and 5 undergraduate students.  The undergraduate students involved in this project were hired for the summer and paid to conduct field and laboratory research on the arthropod associates of pitcher plants.  This research was funded by a summer research grant from The Center for Integrated Science and Mathematics (CINSAM) at NKU. Our major field trip was conducted from May 30, to June 5, 2000.  We traveled from campus to pitcher plant bogs in Georgia, Florida and Alabama. Here is a little taste of some of the things we saw on our trip to the southeastern states.

 

Sarracenia flava showing heavy drought damage

As we investigated the pitcher plant bogs in the southeastern U.S., we came to realize how beautiful and fragile this type of habitat is.  Dr. Rob Naczi had conducted field research in many of the areas we visited about 10 years ago.  Since that time, many of these bogs had undergone moderate to severe destruction.  This special environment is being threatened by such things as cattle grazing, application of chemical fertilizers and herbicides, urban sprawl, improper burning regimes, etc.  In addition to habitat destruction, these plants are also highly sought by unscrupulous plant collectors, who decimate patches of wild pitcher plants for a quick buck or two. Throughout our study, we tried very hard not to harm the patches of pitcher plants that we were studying.  We received permission from land owners to study plants on private land and applied for (and received) collecting permits for those patches we studied on public lands.

Part of our research was accomplished in the Apalachicola National Forest located in the Florida panhandle

 

This small patch of pitcher plants was located in part of a cow pasture.

	There are other arthropods, besides mites and flesh flies, that live in close association with the pitcher plants.  Here is a caterpillar that spins a silken home in the pitchers (Exyra sp.).  The picture to the right shows the feeding damage that can occur in the pitchers from the caterpillar's feeding.
Here is one of the flesh     flies that we were hunting,     sitting on the lip of a pitcher.

Here are two species of sundews that we saw on our trip. These represent another type of carnivorous plant.

 

	We also had the chance to see a variety of interesting habitats that were unrelated to our pitcher plant bog research.  To the left is a view of the Gulf of Mexico through Spanish moss covered trees from one of motels we stayed in.  Above is a picture of a cypress swamp that we drove by in Florida.