Ukraine’s modern flora took shape after the last ice age, but ancient plants have also survived here.
Over millions of years of evolution, plants have been able to adapt to extremely harsh conditions. Today, the flora faces a new challenge—climate change.
Oleksiy Kovalenko, Ph.D. in Biology and research associate at the National Museum of Natural History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, shared insights in an interview with RBC-Ukraine about Ukraine’s flora, relict plants that lived alongside dinosaurs, “radioactive” products, and the future of plants in space.
Key points:
- Ukraine’s Flora: The current vegetation cover formed after the Ice Age and is considered relatively young and rich for a temperate climate zone.
- Threats to crops: The coffee and bananas we’re used to are at risk of disappearing due to aggressive fungi and climate change.
- Myths about GMOs and superfoods: Genetic modification is often safer than conventional breeding, and the term “superfood” is mostly a marketing ploy to popularize little-known products.
- Predatory plants: Unique carnivorous plants (sundews, bladderworts) grow in Ukraine, having turned to predation due to a phosphorus deficiency in the soil.
- Radioactive foods: Banana peels contain radioactive potassium isotopes, and Brazil nuts accumulate radiation thousands of times more than other plants.
