NATU RALIST'S 



NOTEBOOK 



A SILVER YEAR 



For decades, North Carolina 

 Sea Grant has been celebrating the 

 state's coast: Our diverse ecosys- 

 tems. Crucial nursery waters. 

 Unique communities. Memorable 

 landscapes. Delicious seafood. The 

 list goes on. 



In February, the celebration 

 took a new twist with the first in a 

 series of programs to honor the 

 25th anniversary of North 

 Carolina's designation as a Sea 

 Grant College Program. 



Past and present staff mem- 

 bers and researchers shared stories 

 with lawmakers and officials from 

 state and federal agencies who have 

 partnered with Sea Grant. Coastal 

 residents who made the trip inland 

 included advisory board members 

 and others who have participated 

 in Sea Grant projects over the 

 years. 



Guest speakers included Lt. 

 Gov. Beverly Perdue; Russ Lea, 

 interim associate vice president of 

 The University of North Carolina; 

 former Sea Grant Director B.J. 

 Copeland; and James Murray, 

 former North Carolina Sea Grant 

 extension director who now leads 

 Sea Grant's national extension 

 efforts. 



Ronald Hodson, who has led 

 North Carolina Sea Grant since 

 1 997, reminded guests that the 

 program continues to tackle new 

 challenges, including the effects of 

 rapid growth in many coastal 

 counties and river basins. 



Excerpts from the Raleigh program 

 will be featured later this summer in a 

 special anniversary issue of 

 Coastwatch. Also watch for recaps of 

 anniversary events in New Bern, 

 Manteo and Wilmington. 



- KM. 



As an ant or other insect crawls inside 

 one of the flytrap's leaves, its body scrapes 

 against trigger hairs. Suddenly, the leaf 

 snaps shut, trapping the ant inside. 



Spectators are also attracted to the 

 plant's snap-trap leaves. 



"The late spring flower of the Venus 

 flytrap towers as a white beacon to give 

 away their location to naturalists and 

 poachers alike," says Spence. "The flytrap 

 is a protected species in North Carolina. In 

 addition to southeastern North Carolina, 

 Venus flytraps are found naturally only in a 

 few sites along coastal areas of South 

 Carolina." 



To rejuvenate the Green Swamp's 

 population of Venus flytrap and longleaf 

 pine, The Nature Conservancy has a 

 controlled-burn program to keep shrubs 

 from filling the open environment. 



"Fire is important to the savanna's 

 ecology," says Dunn. "Historically, the area 

 had periodic wildfires burn every two to 

 seven years on the average. Without fires, 

 other plants dominate and shade the Venus 

 flytrap." 



Sundews — beautiful plants with 

 nectar-tipped red tentacles that sparkle like 

 jewels in the sun — also thrive in the Green 

 Swamp. The plants grow in shallow water 

 and moist sand. 



Insects are attracted to the sticky, 

 sweet nectar on the tentacle tips. As an 

 insect lands on the leaf, it gets stuck in the 

 sticky juice. The more it struggles, the more 

 it becomes stuck to the sundew's leaf. 



When the insect is completely trapped, 

 the tentacles secrete juices that digest it in 

 three to five days. The trap then reopens, 

 and the remains of the insect stay in the trap 

 or drop out. 



Some sundew species can catch and 

 digest many insects at one time. 



"Once, about 100 insects were counted 

 stuck to a tall, 15-inch-high (38 cm) 

 variety," according to Nancy J. Nielsen's 

 Carnivorous Plants. 



The bladderwort also thrives in the 

 Green Swamp's shallow water and ditches. 



Water fleas and other invertebrates are 



attracted to the plant's tiny trigger hairs that 

 resemble algae. Soon the flea is sucked into 

 the plant's tiny balloon-shaped trap, called 

 a bladder, that has trigger hairs. 



As the water flea brushes against the 

 trigger hairs, the trap door opens, and water 

 rushes in. Within a fraction of a second, the 

 flea is trapped. 



The trap resets in 15 to 30 minutes by 

 readjusting the water pressure, and the 

 trapped flea is digested over several days 

 by enzymes produced by interior glands. 



Besides eating water fleas, bladder- 

 worts also capture and digest mosquito 

 larvae and tiny, one-celled water organ- 

 isms. Occasionally, they also trap small 

 tadpoles. 



The Green Swamp is also home to 

 another tiny insect-eating plant — the 

 butterwort — that grows close to the 

 ground. Its sticky glands are so small that it 

 can eat only small insects, such as fruit 

 flies. 



A fruit fly is attracted to the yellow- 

 green plant because of its musty odor that 

 comes from the gland's sticky juices. 



The fly gets stuck in the butterwort' s 

 glue. The more the fly struggles, the more 

 glue the plant secretes. Eventually, the fly 

 suffocates in the glue. 



"The best time to see the insect-eating 

 plants in bloom is in May," says Dunn. 

 "There are flowers everywhere. The 

 flytraps are tiny. But suddenly, you realize 

 there are lots of flytraps and beautiful 

 wildflowers out there." ® 



The North Carolina Museum of 

 Natural Sciences is sponsoring a field trek 

 to Green Swamp for classroom teachers 

 and other educators on May 18-20. During 

 "Southport, Seabird and Swamptromping, " 

 you can discover insect-eating plants at the 

 Green Swamp. You also can visit the 

 impressive bird rookery at Audubon's 

 Battery Island Sanctuary where thousands 

 of ibises, egrets and herons nest each year. 



To register, contact Mike Dunn, 919/ 

 733-7450, ext. 620, ormike.dunn® 

 ncmail.net. 



28 SPRING 2001 



