june 8-10 was the weekend of this year’s biodiversity day (geo tag der artenvielfalt) in the ötztal (ötz valley), austria.
our accommodation was the university center obergurgl (universitätszentrum obergurgl) [G], close to the valley’s end. driving through sölden on my way up brought back some precious childhood memories – when i was young, the extended family went there for hiking holidays, several times…

at the event, there were lots of familiar faces that i don’t get to see very often – batman toni with his wife vera and son matthaeus, alice, bernadette, barbara, erich, andi & tom from blattform, insect-expert timo, …

day one (the day before biodiversity day) included a geological excursion, and the bat & insect nights at lake piburg (piburger see) [G]. we even caught a brown long-eared bat (plecotus auritus), which hadn’t been documented for the region before!

update: the official biodiversity day (with all the daytime surveys) took place on saturday, june 9th.
i spent the day with barbara, erich, andi and tom, botanizing our way (their way, really ;-)) through the vegetation. there even was a sensational discovery: tom found the black spleenwort (asplenium adiantum-nigrum) – the first verification of this species for all of north tirol.

[view photos: the day before biodiversity day]
[view photos: biodiversity day 2007]

barbara and i have a strange way of helping each other, in terms of university-related things:
asking me how she could improve her presentation on lichens, there were two things i could contribute:
some specifically exaggerated photos of lichen identification, and the idea to not just give the latin names for lichens in her presentation, but also for cows, humans etc. that appeared in some of the pictures.

then again, barbara likes to add …valuable information to my study papers (the formula kept circling in my head when i had the exam). :-)

[view photos: barbara + lichens]

in fall 2005 i received a shoot of the african carrion flower (orbea variegata). two weeks ago, it opened a flower for the very first time.

it naturally grows in southern africa – must be a happy omen. ;-)

it quickly became obvious why the succulent plant was named carrion flower (aasblume in german): the flower produces an intense smell of decay to attract blowflies (the pollinators for this species).
stinky, yet fascinating!

[view photos: african carrion flower]