A vast ecosystem in New Jersey called the pine barrens has abundant populations of not only bladderworts but also pitcher plants and sundews, two other kinds of carnivorous plants with their own ingenious ways of trapping invertebrates. The barrens are also home to roughly 30 species of orchids and dozens of species of rare and threatened wildlife, including a particularly cute amphibian called the pine barrens tree frog. Even more surprising is that the barrens are, as a whole, healthy and largely intact. The ecosystem is thriving as if it’s in some remote part of, I don’t know, Alaska, yet it’s in the most densely populated state in the country. How have the barrens — unlike so many other suburban ecosystems — survived? The answers, I learned, hold lessons for conserving the nation’s last remaining natural areas. https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/23755238/carnivorous-plants-pine-barrens-new-jersey-conservation
