Charnley River-Artesian Range may protect one of the highest concentrations of animal-eating plants

Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC), Media Release, 14 September 2022

Botanists have stumbled across a new and unexplored field of carnivorous plants along with multiple new species of the animal-eating flora at the remote Charnley River-Artesian Range Wildlife Sanctuary in the Kimberley. 

The new site, aptly named Sundew Spring, was discovered by Curtin University PhD candidate and botanist Thilo Krueger, his academic co-supervisor Dr Andreas Fleischmann and Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) Wildlife Ecologist Dr Tom Sayers while conducting research at the AWC managed sanctuary.

The research aimed to determine whether there is an overlap in the prey and pollinator spectra of carnivorous plants – in other words, whether they will eat the same insects that pollinate their flowers. 

The trio described Sundew Spring as a field made up of millions of sundews – each dripping with a sticky substance that attracts and traps prey such as insets and other arthropods. Within the field, the botany team have encountered multiple undescribed species of sundew, the most well-known and largest genus of carnivorous plants, and bladderwort, which use their small air-filled bladders to suck in tiny animals. 

“Having spent a few days in the field with Thilo and Andreas, I was keen to locate more substantial populations,” said Tom. “Carnivorous plants can be particularly abundant in spring-fed sandseep environments and so I took to satellite imagery. One region on the Synnot Range looked very interesting and so I ventured out there.” 

“On arrival I was astonished at the scale of the carnivorous plant populations and on return contacted Thilo and Andreas who had since moved on to another field site in the Kimberley. Given the scale of the population and the presence of undescribed species, they returned to Charnley to study the population at ‘Sundew Spring.” 

Following his recent visit, Thilo has come to believe that Charnley River may protect one of the highest concentrations of carnivorous plants in the Kimberley, and attributed this blooming plant-life to the sanctuary’s diverse habitats. “Charnley River has an amazing number of different habitat types,” explained Thilo. “There are so many species of carnivorous plants, and each species tends to inhabit a specific kind of habitat. One species may only occur in swampy environments, another in sandy soils that are relatively dry, and some species only occur in sandstone seepage areas where there’s just a little bit of water trickling over the sandstone rock. And Charnley River has all these and more.”

“The amazing thing is how easy it is just to stumble upon new species in the Kimberley,” he added. “Almost every time I travel there, I find something I’ve never seen before, just waiting for someone to describe it. In fact, the rate of discovery of new species is so high that it’s almost impossible to catch up and describe all of them!” Thilo, Andreas and Tom hope to return to Charnley River during next year’s wet season to further investigate the field of sundew as well as find and study additional species. 

“With Charnley being a hotspot for carnivorous plants, we at AWC plan to opportunistically map carnivorous plant habitat on sanctuary to help external researchers uncover the mysteries of these fascinating plants,” added Tom. 

Carnivorous plants consume animals or protozoan such as insects and other arthropods for nutritional purposes. Australia is home to more carnivorous plants than anywhere else in the world, with approximately 250 species of these evolutionary wonders endemic to the continent.

Australia’s low-nutrient soils, having gone relatively undisturbed for millions of years, have provided the perfect conditions for these predatory plants to evolve and adapt to their environment.

A 2020 study found that more than a quarter of the world’s carnivorous plant species are threatened with extinction. Habitat loss has historically been the main driver of the disappearance of populations and species.

Now, especially in south-west Western Australia, the changing climate presents a significant threat to these plants that often occur in wetland areas and are very sensitive to heat and dry conditions.

Although Australia has the highest number of species, it also has the highest number of threatened species of carnivorous plants in the world.