Conservation biology of orchids: Introduction to the special issue

Diversity

The presence of Orchids is declining worldwide, mostly due to habitat loss and other factors like climate change, which are likely to increase in severity in the coming decades [...]

2012

While some orchids have likely always been rare, many orchid species that were once widespread are now also found in small fragmented populations. Declines of once widespread species are, in most cases, attributed to habitat loss and sometimes poaching (e.g., Krupnick et al., 2012). However, many of the very characteristics that make so many members of the Orchidaceae prone to being rare (and also so fascinating) may also be driving some of their susceptibility to decline. This is especially true among temperate orchids. Approximately 28% of the estimated 25,000+ species of orchids worldwide grow in the temperate zone and are terrestrial (i. e., live in the soil rather than on trees; Gravendeel et al., 2004). Conservation of these terrestrial species has proven to be especially challenging (e.g., Swarts and Dixon, 2009; Stewart and Hicks, 2010). No telTestrial orchid has ever been de-listed as a result of conservation efforts and restoration is notoriously challenging (Stewart and H...

Lankesteriana, 2013

In 1996 the IUCN/SSC Orchid Specialist Group published a Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan that included a number of recommendations designed to address the problem of a projected imminent and rapid decline of species. Orchids remain subject to a multiplicity of threats in their natural habitats and, in addition to the usual suspects of habitat loss and land conversion, climate change has exerted a measurable effect on some orchid populations. Collection of orchids for traditional medicine is having a significant effect both within China and surrounding countries. Some progress has been made in achieving the targets set for Red Listing of endangered species in some countries, but other countries are lagging behind. In addition to successful initiatives in preserving natural habitats, a number of projects around the world have demonstrated that it is possible both to bring endangered species into cultivation and successfully reintroduce them into the wild. Orchid Seed Stores for Sustainable Use, with its goal of storing seeds representing a minimum of 1000 orchid species in institutes in at least 30 countries over the next five years, provides an example of what can be achieved by a small, dedicated group determined to share their technical expertise and develop a deeper understanding of the underlying science. There is, however, also an urgent need to promote awareness in the wider community about the importance of all sorts of biodiversity (not only orchids) through educational programs and involve people from as wide a range of backgrounds as possible..

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, 2012

The French Atlas of Orchids published in autumn 2010 is a large-scale and intensive survey of orchid populations throughout the France territory. The project was directed by the French Orchid Society and involved 3000 specialists in orchids. Overall, more than 110,000 stations were referenced and 160 taxa were reported with their range on 154 maps. This project is original by synthesizing, at large scale, much accurate naturalistic information from local surveys, thanks to a participative approach and on the basis of scientific objectives. Some orchid populations have been recorded for more than 20 years, revealing demographic trends at the scale of the country. Guidelines for application IUCN Red List criteria at regional level have been applied in order to establish The French Red List of orchid species. This represents one of the few examples of IUICN criteria being applied at a regional scale for a plant family. Based on the IUCN categorization about 1 in 5 species is threatened, one as Regionally Extinct (RE), 4 as Endangered (EN) and 23 as Vulnerable (VU). The main extinction risk consists of population size decrease, mostly due to habitat change. Further investigations are needed for the 33 taxa classified as Data Deficient. Most threatened species benefit already from protection regulations. Some recommendations will be drawn in order to conserve orchid species, paying attention to patrimonial and threatened species.

lankesteriana.ucr.ac.cr

The orchid family comprises in Mexico some 1254 species and 21 subspecific taxa (Soto Arenas et al. 2007). Notable facts of the Mexican orchid flora are the very uneven distribution of the species in the territory, since about a half of the country is too dry to permit the existence of a single orchid species, and nearly 60% of the species are found in the cloud forests which occupy only about 1-2% of the area of the country (Soto Arenas 1996). A summary of the conservation actions in Mexico can be found in Hágsater and Soto Arenas (1998). Like in other parts of the world, in Mexico the orchid diversity is being lost. Orchids have intrinsic biological traits that make them vulnerable and the human impact on their populations and habitats is a very important threat that is causing extinctions and significant losses of the species' genetic variation. The Mexican Official Standard NOM-059-ECOL-2001 lists 183 orchid species in a risk category (none extinct, 16 endangered, 61 threatened, and 106 under special protection). The official list is based on information gathered during the decade of 1980-1990 (Soto Arenas and Hágsater 1990; Soto Arenas 1994), nowadays the conservation status of some taxa has changed, even some taxa have become extinct. Based on the official list, and considering 15 additional taxa that have been reported as extinct or severely in risk in the last years, we constructed a data base that includes the most relevant information in order to plan the conservation strategies of the taxa at risk. The information will be soon available in BIOTICA, the data base of CONABIO, Mexico. In this work we discuss three different aspects of the information derived from the orchids at risk data base: 1) Evaluation of the importance of current and proposed areas for conservation; 2) determination of

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 2023

Edited by: Eric Hagsater & Vinciane Dumont

Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 2013

The status and trends of issues related to the conservation of orchids native to the United States, Canada, and Greenland are considered. We focus on nine of the 16 Targets of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC). The first two targets, which all other targets rely upon, appear to have been adequately achieved, in addition to Target 11. Limited progress has been made on six other GSPC targets. Three case studies of efforts to conserve the native threatened orchids, Platanthera leucophaea (Nutt.) Lindl., Isotria medeoloides (Pursh) Raf., and Tolumnia bahamensis (Nash) Braem, are presented to demonstrate the difficulties as well as the issues associated with effective conservation. We describe our efforts to establish an international program to conserve all native orchids in the United States and Canada. The North American Orchid Conservation Center (NAOCC) is an internationally focused effort that is based on public-private partnerships. The goal of NAOCC is to conserve the genetic diversity of all native orchids through efforts to develop an international collection of seeds and orchid fungi. The NAOCC also focuses on the cultivation of all native orchids in an international network of botanic gardens, and they partner with private and public landowners to develop techniques to conserve and restore all native orchid species.

The First 100 Years of Research on Barro Colorado: Plant and Ecosystem Science, Vol 2, 2024

ABSTRACT. In this chapter, we review key studies of orchids on Barro Colorado Island (BCI) and consider the history of the place from the context of taxonomic status and eco- logical and evolutionary theory. The contributions are varied yet played a key role in our understanding of orchid taxonomy, pollination, evolution of ant-plant interactions, and plant physiological ecology in epiphytic plants. The demography of epiphytic orchids is described in the context of epiphytism and meta-population dynamics. Along with information on reproduction and gene flow from BCI studies, a distinct characterization emerges of the tempo of evolution in orchids and how this has contributed to the extreme diversity of the group.

1997