Lab Life
- This crazy-looking apparatus is a ToF-SIMS, a special type of electron microscope that Michal was able to use while visiting our collaborator Reinhard Jetter at UBC Vancouver
- Characterizing the impact response of the Nepenthes gracilis pitcher lid with a Laser Doppler vibrometer
- This is essentially a weigh-bridge for ants!
- Looking after our pitcher plants in the tropical growth chamber in Bristol
- Janine trying out the new hail simulator she built for the lab
Field Work
- Measuring the viscoelastic properties of the pitcher trap fluid with a portable rheometer in our field site in Brunei Darussalam.
- By measuring the electrical conductance between two electrodes fixed to opposite margins of the pitcher rim, we were able to monitor surface wetting - and hence slipperiness - in the natural environment over the course of several weeks.
- Sampling the attractive nectar from a pitcher trap in my field site in the Tutong White Sands, Brunei (photo by Bruno Di Giusto).
- Coming back from a long day out in the field (photo by Joachim Moog).
- Working late at night (photo by Joachim Moog).
- Sampling pitcher prey under suboptimal conditions in a peat swamp forest in Brunei (photo by Joachim Moog).
- After prolonged and unusually heavy rainfalls in spring 2009, our field site in the interior of Belait district in Brunei was inaccessible.
- Using a logging railway to access the peat swamp forest in Belait district, Brunei (photo by Dan Thornham).
- Ulrike's first-ever field project looked at the influence of constant experimental wetting on the trapping success of Nepenthes bicalcarata pitchers in a peat swamp forest in Brunei (photo by Joachim Moog) .
- In 2008, Ulrike spent two weeks on the top of Mt. Mulu in Sarawak, Malaysia, as part of an international team investigating one of the most amazing plant-animal mutualisms ever! High up in the cloud forest, mountain tree shrews visit the pitcher traps of Nepenthes lowii to collect nectar. They then use the pitchers as a toilet - yes, you read that right! - and leave their nutrient-rich droppings in exchange for the sweet treat (photo by Katja Rembold).
- Fruit-shopping on the local market (photo by Dan Thornham).
- Opening a young coconut is an essential skill when you do field work in the tropics (photo by Anne Peattie)!
- Inevitably, we got peer-pressured into singing karaoke.
- The best thing about field work in Brunei is the food!
- Anne recording impact responses of leaves in the departmental allotment.
Botanical Expeditions
- Photographing pitcher plants in central Mindanao, Philippines (photo by William Hoyer).
- The unique tree-climbing growth form of Nepenthes veitchii in Maliau Basin, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.
- With the world's largest pitcher plant, Nepenthes rajah, in Mt. Kinabalu National Park, Sabah (photo by Ansou Gunsalam).
- Taking a moment to watch birds in the morning during a field trip to Brunei (photo by Anne Peattie).
- Stunning sunrise from Mt. Trusmadi, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.
- With Nepenthes sibuyanensis on the steep slopes of Mt. Guiting-Guiting, Sibuyan, Philippines (photo by Chien Lee).
- Encouraging a giant katydid to show its wings in the central highlands of West Papua, Indonesia (photo by Katja Rembold).
- With an unnamed new species of Nepenthes at about 3,000m elevation in the central Papuan highlands (photo by Katja Rembold).
- A mountain tree shrew, Tupaia montana, caught 'in flagranti' on the 'toilet pitchers' of Nepenthes lowii on Mt. Mulu, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo.
- Ulrike tries her hand (or feet?) at the traditional Hornbill dance of the Iban people of Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo.
- Birdwatching in Papua, Indonesia (photo by Chien Lee).
- The bizarre upper pitcher of Nepenthes hamata on the summit of Mt. Mulut, Sulawesi, Indonesia.
- Nepenthes tentaculata, a wide-spread highland species across much of SE Asia. This form from Mt. Mulut on the island of Sulawesi is particularly attractive with its lipstick-like red-glossed pitcher rim.
- At the foot of a rainforest tree giant in Nantu nature reserve, Northern Sulawesi (photo by Andrew Murray).
- Camping (and botanizing) at 3,000 m a.s.l. near lake Habbema in the Central Papuan Highlands.
- Entering a traditional tree house in the lowland rainforest of Papua, Indonesia (photo by Mathias Scharmann).
- With the world's largest seed, the endemic Coco de mèr, on Praslin island, Seychelles (photo by Gina Morimoto).
- On the Copolia glacis, Mahé island, during a field trip to the Seychelles in 2017.
- The endemic Seychelles pitcher plant, Nepenthes pervillei, is one of the evolutionarily oldest species of Asian pitcher plants.
- Dwarfed by the limestone spires of Tsingy de Bemaraha in Western Madagascar (photo by Chien Lee).
- Photographing the unique summit vegetation of Mt. Marojejy, Northern Madagascar (photo by Katja Rembold).
- Having fun with lemurs in Madagascar (photo by Bill Kimbrough).
- On top of the world, crossing the knife-edge ridge of Mt. Guiting-Guiting, Sibuyan island, Philippines (photo by William Hoyer).
- You don't have to travel the world to see carnivorous plants! Drosera rotundifolia sundews growing in a bog in Hampshire, UK.
Other Activities
- Ulrike receives the great honour of meeting one of the pioneers of carnivorous plant research, Prof Barry Juniper, in his Oxford home.
- Visiting the Hartmeyers, carnivorous plant collectors and enthusiasts from Southern Germany
- In good German tradition, Ulrike receives a hat depicting the essential ingredients of her grad student life when she is awarded her PhD.
- Delivering the session keynote during the 2017 SEB conference in Gothenburg, Sweden
- With collaborators and friends at the 2018 SEB conference in Florence, Italy
- Much needed lab Christmas social after nearly two years of pandemic!
- Celebrating the first successful graduation in the lab after Oona passed her MScR viva with flying colours
- Ready to kick off our dedicated Mechanical Ecology session at SEB 2022 in Montpellier
- Mechanical Ecology Networking Dinner at the 2022 SEB Conference in Montpellier, France