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

Torsten and Emily setting up an acoustic tomography scan with a 3D-printed bat pitcher (Nepenthes hemsleyana).

Molecular lab work while on 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.

Field rheometry, mark II.

Ankle-deep in the swamps while on field work during rainy season.

Measuring the fill height of the digestive liquid in a Nepenthes rafflesiana pitcher.

Skylar making friends with the local wildlife.

The team samples the local food.

The Mechanical Ecology field crew does Chinese New Year with our host family.

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.

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