NCBG part of $946,000 grant to study fire management of Venus flytraps

closeup of Venus flytraps dappled with morning dew

The grant, which supports a partnership between Kansas State University, Duke University, and the North Carolina Botanical Garden, is part of an award from the US National Science Foundation and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation of $16M in grants supporting science-led conservation projects.

On August 20, 2024, the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation announced a $946,768 grant to Kansas State University, Duke University, and the North Carolina Botanical Garden to study how climate change may affect the optimal fire management strategy for Venus flytraps and act as an indicator for other rare species.

$424,934 of these funds come from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation to the North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation, which will support the Garden’s part in this project.

Climate change, fire, and Venus flytraps

The project will study how fire frequency affects biodiversity and how climate change may further affect fire’s impact on longleaf pine ecosystems. The Venus flytrap is just one threatened species that lives in the fire-maintained longleaf pine savannas of North Carolina: to make sure the rare plants and animals that live in these ecosystems survive, we need to understand how climate change may affect their populations.

The work funded by this grant will result in recommendations for prescribed burns in longleaf pine savannas and a web-based tool for land managers in the southeastern U.S. that will help them make conservation plans. It will also involve training graduate and undergraduate students in ecology and conservation.

NCBG conservation staff will work directly in the field studying Venus flytraps and other rare plants in the longleaf savannas. Our team will also coordinate conservation work among different partners and stakeholders, train undergraduates to conduct rare plant research, and support land managers in burning Venus flytrap habitat and longleaf pine savannas.

About the Partnership to Advance Conservation Science and Practice

This research is one of 10 projects receiving funding under the Partnership to Advance Conservation Science and Practice (PACSP) program, a first-of-its-kind collaboration between the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. Now in its second year, the program is designed to catalyze deep collaboration between researchers advancing basic science and conservation partners engaging in on-the-ground conservation.

The projects focus on a range of species—from grizzly bears to Venus flytraps and Hawaiian honeycreeper—and the outcomes will have far-reaching implications for biodiversity and conservation, policy and the economy.

Learn more about the Partnership to Advance Conservation Science and Practice program and view the full list of awards and awardees on the National Science Foundation website.