ORCHID CONSERVATION NEWS The Newsletter of the Orchid Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission
Issue 1 February 2013 Conservation in the News
because of the high profile of the species for From the Chair conservation, CITES and commercial horticulture. We
are aware that some species have already been done, at least as regional assessments, and suspect that some Dear Colleagues, more assessments exist in draft form. Please can you
contact Hassan ([email protected]) with details of any Greetings in the new Quadrennium. I am hoping that assessments that you are working on or any data sets on this will be a productive four years for orchid distributions/population sizes etc. that could be conservation. Very soon, we will be releasing details of included. Any contributions will, of course, be reflected the Fifth Orchid Conservation Congress to be held in in the authorship of the assessments. Although this December on La Reunion – a fascinating island with current activity is focused on slipper orchids, do let us many orchid species. In the meantime, we have just know if you are interesting in redlisting other orchids! succeeded in getting the first orchid onto the IUCN A m a z i n g S p e c i e s p a g e s – s e e We have a website: http://www.iucn.org/orchid/ http://jr.iucnredlist.org/documents/amazingspecies/op Please let me or Hassan ([email protected]) know if hrys-insectifera.pdf you would like to publicise any orchid conservation events or publications, etc. If you have suggestions for other orchids that could be featured, let me know (they should already be on the We also have this newsletter, edited by Marilyn Light: Global Redlist. Apart from this, you will need to back issues are available from the website. If you would provide a high resolution image and 170 words). like to write something about your orchid conservation activities, then please let us know – we are always We are currently trying to reinvigorate redlisting for l o o k i n g f o r i n t e r e s t i n g a r t i c l e s ! orchids. Currently orchids are very under-represented on the Global Redlist: there are only about 200 species With best wishes, already on the list, representing less than 1% of species in the family (for comparison all conifers, all cacti and Mike 20% of palms have been redlisted). Following work on European orchids (153 spp. at the regional level, 46 of which were also Global) led by Hassan Rankou (Orchid Specialist Group Red List Focal Point), we have now agreed with IUCN SSC that we will work with colleagues to get all Cypripedioideae onto the Global Redlist. This decision was taken because the numbers are manageable (c. 166 spp. in the subfamily) and
1 grandfather (and orchid grower) was among those in Hawai’i during the first half of the 20th century to collect Editorial species of Orchidophilus, invaders from the Philippines or Indonesia. The challenges to orchid conservation are many, the resources to assess both conservation status and vulnerability or to plan and execute recovery plans are As it turns out, Orchidophilus is only one of a number limited, and our understanding of the biology of many of beetle genera specializing on orchids. Stethobaris is species woefully lacking, but we are making progress. another. I was completely unaware of this little beast until I began to notice that in Puerto Rico many The life span of wild orchid plants is of conservation inflorescences of the invasive Australasian/Western interest. Some terrestrial orchids have a propensity for Pacific Spathoglottis plicata were turning black and periodic or extended dormancy. Notably, one wild- aborting buds, flowers and fruits. It soon became collected Cypripedium parviflorum, first brought into apparent that a small black beetle was associated with cultivation in 1925, has continued to thrive for more this calamity. Colleagues at our local Agricultural than 80 years in a city garden. We might wonder if such Experimental Station identified it as the native weevil, longevity would have been possible in the natural Stethobaris polita. environment even without present anthropogenic impact. The Tansley review article about plant aging, authored by Howard Thomas and recently published in the New Phytologist, is both comprehensive and thought provoking. It is an enjoyable read.
Thomas, H. (2013), Senescence, ageing and death of the whole plant. New Phytologist, 197: 696–711. doi: 10.1111/nph.12047 ______
With this issue, we are beginning two new sections: On the Bookshelf, and Food for Thought. We welcome suggestions for future columns and look forward to having your submissions. A few lines of comment are always welcomed. Marilyn H.S. Light, Editor [email protected] OR [email protected] ______In Puerto Rico we sought to determine what effects Stethobaris polita may have on the reproductive Evil Weevils on Native and Non-native success of S. plicata and whether there were Orchids of Puerto Rico consequences beyond the native beetle/non-indigenous orchid interaction. It soon became apparent that there James Ackerman, Professor was yet another player involved in the life history of S. University of Puerto Rico plicata : ants foraging at extrafloral nectaries. With [email protected] exclusion experiments in the field, we determined that the beetles much reduced fruit and seed set, and the ants For some time, it has been known that there are beetles (mostly invasive fire ants, Solenopsis invicta) did not (weevils) that have specialized on eating orchid flowers make much difference and may be considered thieves of and laying their eggs in fruits, inflorescence rachises or extrafloral nectar. even pseudobulbs where their larvae develop while feeding on delectable tissues. Until recently, most The story gets a little more complicated. Spathoglottis observations were made on those weevils that dined on plicata grows in the same region as the vegetatively orchids in cultivation. In fact, my entomologist similar, native orchid, Bletia patula, also a host of the
2 weevils. We then asked whether S. plicata elevated populations of weevils to the detriment of B. patula. So, we surveyed the presence of weevils, weevil On The Bookshelf damage, and orchid reproductive success of populations A Primer of Ecological Statistics - Second Edition of B. patula noting whether S. plicata was present and Nicholas J. Gotelli and Aaron M. Ellison. at what densities. We found that the frequency of beetles and damage to Bletia flowers were significantly Sinauer Associates Inc. ISBN 978-1-60535-064-6 higher, and fruit set lower where S. plicata was nearby, but the effect was quite local, within a few meters. This recently published text features new chapters about estimating species diversity and species abundance. Parts of Chapter 14 - Detecting Populations and Detecting their Size, pages 509-516, may be of interest as Cypripedium acaule is used as an example. The authors discuss their experience in estimating the number of C. acaule in a Massachussets forest, illustrating how detection errors can be controlled. www.sinauer.com
Cypripedium acaule Photo: Marilyn Light So we found that an invasive orchid is being attacked ____ by a native weevil and poorly defended by (mostly) ______invasive ants. Because of the dramatic reduction in fruit set caused by the beetles, we assume that they have slowed the spread of S. plicata across Puerto Rico, Food for Thought which would otherwise be marching across the island at even a faster rate than what we currently observe. And Abeli, T., A. Jäkäläniemi, L. Wannas, P. Mutikainen and J. in one of the few documented cases of detrimental Tuomi, (2013), Pollen limitation and fruiting failure related to canopy closure in Calypso bulbosa (Orchidaceae), a northern effects of an invading plant species in Puerto Rico, we food-deceptive orchid with a single flower. Botanical Journal find that there is apparent competition between invasive of the Linnean Society. doi: 10.1111/boj.12014 and native orchids mediated by elevated populations of a native weevil. It remains to be seen whether or not Brzosko, E. and A. Wróblewska, (2013), Genetic diversity of this three-way interaction will stabilize. nectar rewarding Platanthera chlorantha and nectarless Cephalanthera rubra. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. References: Neel, M.C. and J.P. Che-Castalado, (2013), Predicting Recart, W., J. D. Ackerman, and A. A. Cuevas. 2012. There goes recovery criteria for threatened and endangered plant species the neighborhood: apparent competition between invasive and on the basis of past abundance and biological traits. native orchids mediated by a specialist florivorous weevil. Conservation Biology. doi: 10.1111/cobi.12008 Biological Invasions DOI: 10.1007/s10530-012-0283-0. Nunes, C. E. P., M. de M. Castro, L. Galetto and M. Sazima, (2013), Anatomy of the floral nectary of ornithophilous Swezey, O. H. 1945. Insects associated with orchids. Proceedings of the Hawaii Entomological Society 12: 343-403. Elleanthus brasiliensis (Orchidaceae: Sobralieae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.
3 Pandey, M., Sharma, J., Taylor, D. L. and V.L. Yadon, (2013), A narrowly endemic photosynthetic orchid is Call for conservation news non-specific in its mycorrhizal associations. Molecular Ecology. doi: 10.1111/mec.12249 Members are asked to provide news of their recent conservation activities for publication in the OSG Conservation News. Peter, C. and S. D. Johnson, (2013), Generalized food- deception: colour signals and efficient pollen transfer in bee- Changes to contact information? pollinated species of Eulophia (Orchidaceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. doi: 10.1111/boj.12028 To maintain effective communication, we need to know of any changes in contact information. Please inform the OSG Chair, Dr. Mike Fay
Sugiura, N., (2013), Specialized pollination by carpenter bees in Calanthe striata (Orchidaceae), with a review of carpenter bee pollination in orchids. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8339.2012.01324.x
Thomas, H. (2013), Senescence, ageing and death of the whole plant, New Phytologist, 197: 696–711. doi: 10.1111/nph.12047
Mark your calendars
IOCC5 - Isle de la Réunion - December 2–6, 2013
The 5th International Orchid Conservation Congress is planned for December 2013 at Saint-Denis, Ile de La Réunion. The theme is “Orchid Conservation – Making the links”. The website provides details including congress hotel, visitor information, and associated field trips. This is an opportunity not to be missed! http://iocc5.univ-reunion.fr/ ______
New Phytologist Symposium Calabria, Italy, May 14–16, 2013 http://www.newphytologist.org/orchid/flyer.pdf
International Orchid Workshop May 17–20, 2013 University of Calabria, Italy http://www.iow2013.it/ ______
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