Antony van der Ent
@antonyent.bsky.social
Globetrotting Hyperaccumulator Plant Explorer
Engineering autonomously luminescent plants using fungal bioluminescence pathway - Yu et al. - New Phytologist - Wiley Online Library nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
September 29, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Engineering autonomously luminescent plants using fungal bioluminescence pathway - Yu et al. - New Phytologist - Wiley Online Library nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Physiological Effect of Thallium in the Facultative Hyperaccumulator Silene latifolia - Regini - 2025 - Physiologia Plantarum - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
August 28, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Physiological Effect of Thallium in the Facultative Hyperaccumulator Silene latifolia - Regini - 2025 - Physiologia Plantarum - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Just returned from travel to Sabah (Malaysia), staying near the glorious Mount Kinabalu, the most biodiverse area of the World with nearly 6000 plant species in an area of just 1200 km2.
July 24, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Just returned from travel to Sabah (Malaysia), staying near the glorious Mount Kinabalu, the most biodiverse area of the World with nearly 6000 plant species in an area of just 1200 km2.
I spotted a very pretty Borneo Anglehead lizard (Gonocephalus bornensis) sitting on a tree trunk near Poring, Kinabalu Park (Sabah, Malaysia).
July 24, 2025 at 8:56 AM
I spotted a very pretty Borneo Anglehead lizard (Gonocephalus bornensis) sitting on a tree trunk near Poring, Kinabalu Park (Sabah, Malaysia).
The 'primitive' orchid Neuwiedia zollingeri grows terrestrially on serpentinite derived soils in Sabah, Malaysia.
July 24, 2025 at 8:56 AM
The 'primitive' orchid Neuwiedia zollingeri grows terrestrially on serpentinite derived soils in Sabah, Malaysia.
We had the chance to see a Rafflesia keithii near Poring (Sabah, Malaysia). It parasitises on the vine Tetrastigma leucostaphylum and can reach up to 80–95 cm in diameter.
July 24, 2025 at 8:55 AM
We had the chance to see a Rafflesia keithii near Poring (Sabah, Malaysia). It parasitises on the vine Tetrastigma leucostaphylum and can reach up to 80–95 cm in diameter.
Happy memories: a few years back, looking at specimens in the herbarium of the Forest Research Centre at Sepilok with Prof Guillaume Echevarria and the renowned botanist Datuk Anthony Lamb.
July 24, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Happy memories: a few years back, looking at specimens in the herbarium of the Forest Research Centre at Sepilok with Prof Guillaume Echevarria and the renowned botanist Datuk Anthony Lamb.
A puddle full with yellow-bellied toads (Bombina variegata) in North Macedonia.
July 6, 2025 at 3:24 PM
A puddle full with yellow-bellied toads (Bombina variegata) in North Macedonia.
Spotted a beautiful male European green lizard (Lacerta viridis).
July 6, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Spotted a beautiful male European green lizard (Lacerta viridis).
Fieldwork at Toranica (North Macedonia) with natural zinc-lead mineralisation at high altitude with characteristic metallophytes including Noccaea and Viola.
July 6, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Fieldwork at Toranica (North Macedonia) with natural zinc-lead mineralisation at high altitude with characteristic metallophytes including Noccaea and Viola.
The famous Viola allchariensis, a steno-endemic species to Allchar in North Macedonia.
July 6, 2025 at 2:24 PM
The famous Viola allchariensis, a steno-endemic species to Allchar in North Macedonia.
Allchar is the most toxic (natural) site in the World with extraordinary high arsenic and thallium concentrations in soils.
July 6, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Allchar is the most toxic (natural) site in the World with extraordinary high arsenic and thallium concentrations in soils.
We're back at Allchar (North Macedonia) again this year for fieldwork on hyperaccumulation. This time we focus on metal(loid) accumulation in bryophytes.
July 6, 2025 at 2:22 PM
We're back at Allchar (North Macedonia) again this year for fieldwork on hyperaccumulation. This time we focus on metal(loid) accumulation in bryophytes.
Recent fieldwork in a reserve near the Sint-Pietersberg in Belgium. This unique site has a very rich orchid flora with Orchis militaris and O. anthropophora and their hybrids.
June 6, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Recent fieldwork in a reserve near the Sint-Pietersberg in Belgium. This unique site has a very rich orchid flora with Orchis militaris and O. anthropophora and their hybrids.
The Casino Weiher Halde at Kelmis (Belgium) where zinc smelting waste was dumped with the zinc-lead metallophyte Viola lutea subsp. calaminaria and the zinc hyperaccumulator Noccaea caerulescens.
June 6, 2025 at 7:20 AM
The Casino Weiher Halde at Kelmis (Belgium) where zinc smelting waste was dumped with the zinc-lead metallophyte Viola lutea subsp. calaminaria and the zinc hyperaccumulator Noccaea caerulescens.
Beautiful Orchis purpurea in South Limburg, The Netherlands.
June 6, 2025 at 7:19 AM
Beautiful Orchis purpurea in South Limburg, The Netherlands.
Root tips of the selenium hyperaccumulator Neptunia amplexicaulis from Australia. This synchrotron micro-X-ray fluorescence elemental image shows selenium is shown in green, with calcium in red and zinc in blue.
February 16, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Root tips of the selenium hyperaccumulator Neptunia amplexicaulis from Australia. This synchrotron micro-X-ray fluorescence elemental image shows selenium is shown in green, with calcium in red and zinc in blue.
Another micro-X-ray fluorescence elemental image showing only selenium in a leaf of Neptunia amplexicaulis.
February 16, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Another micro-X-ray fluorescence elemental image showing only selenium in a leaf of Neptunia amplexicaulis.
One of my favourite micro-X-ray fluorescence elemental images (acquired with a desktops system) showing the selenium hyperaccumulator Neptunia amplexicaulis. Selenium is shown in green, with calcium in red and potassium in blue.
February 16, 2025 at 4:01 PM
One of my favourite micro-X-ray fluorescence elemental images (acquired with a desktops system) showing the selenium hyperaccumulator Neptunia amplexicaulis. Selenium is shown in green, with calcium in red and potassium in blue.
The 'Zinc Violet' (Viola calaminaria) in the Belgian Geul Valley is a metallophyte of zinc-lead enriched soils. It's name derives from the latin for zinc ore (calamina).
February 15, 2025 at 5:46 PM
The 'Zinc Violet' (Viola calaminaria) in the Belgian Geul Valley is a metallophyte of zinc-lead enriched soils. It's name derives from the latin for zinc ore (calamina).
The thallium hyperaccumulator Biscutella laevigata on the former zinc-lead mine of Cave del Predil in Italy.
February 15, 2025 at 5:39 PM
The thallium hyperaccumulator Biscutella laevigata on the former zinc-lead mine of Cave del Predil in Italy.
Synchrotron micro-X-ray fluorescence (µXRF) elemental map showing showing thallium in green, calcium in red and potassium in blue in the thallium hyperaccumulator Biscutella laevigata. Data obtained at beamline P06 of DESY.
February 15, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Synchrotron micro-X-ray fluorescence (µXRF) elemental map showing showing thallium in green, calcium in red and potassium in blue in the thallium hyperaccumulator Biscutella laevigata. Data obtained at beamline P06 of DESY.
Despite it's name, the incredibly rare Viola arsenica from Allchar (North Macedonia) is a thallium hyperaccumulator capable of attaining up to 58,900 mg/kg thallium in its leaves.
February 15, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Despite it's name, the incredibly rare Viola arsenica from Allchar (North Macedonia) is a thallium hyperaccumulator capable of attaining up to 58,900 mg/kg thallium in its leaves.
The thallium hyperaccumulator Viola allchariensis at the Allchar site in North Macedonia. It is a steno-endemic species that is incredibly rare and known from perhaps only a few hundred individuals growing on arsenic-thallium enriched soils.
February 14, 2025 at 2:55 PM
The thallium hyperaccumulator Viola allchariensis at the Allchar site in North Macedonia. It is a steno-endemic species that is incredibly rare and known from perhaps only a few hundred individuals growing on arsenic-thallium enriched soils.
Even rarer is the zinc metallophyte Cochlearia pyrenaica known from a single small population in the Hohn Valley in Belgium. Growing at a natural spring here with zinc-enriched water.
February 14, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Even rarer is the zinc metallophyte Cochlearia pyrenaica known from a single small population in the Hohn Valley in Belgium. Growing at a natural spring here with zinc-enriched water.