gain their advantage from their ability to extract nutrients from insect prey in this mineral-poor environment. The plants prefer strong, direct sunlight with no shade. Sarracenia habitats in the southeastern Coastal Plain consist primarily of fire-maintained pine savannas, wet prairies, or seepage bogs. Without frequent fire (1–3 years), these habitats undergo ecological succession and are quickly invaded by woody shrubs and trees, which eliminate Sarracenia by increasing shade and reducing soil moisture. In several cases, carnivorous plant enthusiasts have introduced S. purpurea into suitable habitats outside of its natural range, where it has naturalized. Some of these populations are decades old; the oldest known occurrence in the Swiss Jura mountains is around one hundred years old. Besides Switzerland, such naturalized populations can be found in Ireland, England (Lake District), Germany (Bavaria, Lusatia) and in Mendocino County along the California coast. Environmental status Sarracenia are threatened in the wild by development and the drainage of their habitat. Estimates indicated that 97.5% of Sarracenia habitat has already been destroyed in the southeastern U.S., the home of all but one subspecies of Sarracenia. Currently the biggest threats to surviving populations are urban development, drainage of habitat for forestry, runoff of herbicides from agriculture, fire suppression, cut pitcher trade for floristry, and plant trade. The latter two threaten survival of Sarracenia not only through depletion of healthy population, but also because of the damaging effects (soil compaction and altered moisture levels) of repeated foot and vehicular traffic that comes with harvesting. The Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that approximately 1.6 million pitchers were cut for the domestic market in 1991. Some protective legislation exists. Several southeastern states, such as Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina have conservation laws which protect Sarracenia. However, most of the remaining wetlands in the southeastern U.S. are privately owned. Plants on this land are not protected by state legislation. The key states of Alabama and Mississippi have no such legislation at all, so that even plants on public land have no protection. Three Sarracenia have been listed as "Federally Endangered" under the USA Endangered Species Act (1973) – S. rubra subsp. alabamensis (S. alabamensis) in Alabama, S. rubra subsp. jonesii (S. jonesii) in North and South Carolina, and S. oreophila in Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina. These taxa are also on CITES Appendix I, giving them international protection by making export of wild-collected plants illegal. The other species, while appearing