Representativeness of the collections Científico ‘Ex Situ’ of the family between Andean Forest and Paramo in the department of Cundinamarca, Colombia

Karen Sofia Gil: Ecologist, Young researcher, Sciences Faculty, Pontificia Javeriana University, Bogotá. Mail: [email protected]

Jorge Jacome Phd.: Assistant professor, Biology Department, Ecology and Systematics Unit, Pontificia Javeriana University, Bogotá. Mail: [email protected]

Abstract: In Colombia, orchids are mainly concentrated in the Andean Re- gion. In Cundinamarca, the most densely populated department and the most deforested in the country, it was identified a network of actors involved in ex situ collections management and in conservation of orchids. It was performed a preliminary list of taxa of Orchidaceae family located in an al- titudinal range of 1800 to 3900 meters in Cundinamarca, and registered in the most important herbariums of the department, as a tool to capture quantitative information. The representativeness of the Orchidaceae family is determined by genera of the most striking orchids with potential for com- mercialization, including Cyrtochilum, Epidendrum, Masdevallia, Odontoglos- sum and Pleurothallis. The 60% of the species of andean forest and paramo in Cundinamarca are represented in private collections, and 20% in public ones in the Botanical Garden of Bogota Jose Celestino Mutis. According to the research, it should meet the need to increase the representativeness of the groups Orchidaceae department, out of preference for ornamentals and extend database of threatened species in cultivation to benefit seed produc- tion and ex situ conservation programs.

Key words: Orchidaceae, Cundinamarca, Representativeness, Andean Fo- rest, Páramo, Ex situ Conservation.

Introduction: The largest diversity of or- 15% of the species are found in the chids concentrates in the tropics, and páramo. Of the registered species for it is estimated that Colombia has more Colombia, 1,544 are endemic, distribu- than 4000 species grouped in 235 ge- ted mainly in the Andean region which nera (Ortiz, pers. conv. 2012). Colom- concentrates 93% of the endemic spe- bian species are concentrated mostly cies (Sarmiento 2007). Areas that ex- in the Andean region (87%), where hibit a particularly high abundance of

• • orchids follow the general pattern of situ collections (IUCN 1996). Popu- diversity; from the standpoint of lations propagated ex situ can redu- the altitudinal range the largest diver- ce the need for the collection of wild sity is found between 1,800 and 2,000 individuals for marketing, exhibition meters (Sarmiento 2007). and research purposes, while contri- buting to the education of the public In addition to their slow natural pro- (Orejuela 2010). These collections pagation, factors such as the conti- are like an insurance policy for the fu- nuing degradation of ecosystems; ture; they are the basis for restoration deforestation for agriculture, cattle and reintroduction programs (Sea- raising and urbanization; and the ton et al., 2010). excessive collection for horticultu- ral and commercial purposes, cause Botanical gardens can be considered the reduction and disappearance of the first institutions involved in ex some wild populations and species situ conservation of plant resources. of Orchidaceae family (Ortiz 1995). However, conservation in botanical The Colombian Andean region ranks gardens has presented a number of second in deforestation with 578,000 problems arising from their irregu- hectares lost every year as stated by lar distribution around the world, CAEM- Corporación Ambiental Em- serious financial and management presarial, in conjunction with the problems and lack of government CAR- Corporación Autónoma Regio- support. In tropical countries, whe- nal de Cundinamarca. Cundinamarca re the greatest numbers of species is the most densely populated de- are found, is where less botanical partment and according to estima- gardens exist (Maxted et al., 1997). tes by DANE, the total population is Botanical gardens in Colombia frame 12.272.620 inhabitants (est. 2013). their action in meeting international policies that provide operational gui- The task of preserving threatened flo- delines for conservation, education ra groups such as orchids has moti- and sustainable use of plant biodi- vated the design of conservation stra- versity. For this purpose they have tegies that involve the preservation of signed the Convention on Biological species directly at the place of origin Diversity (ratified in Colombia throu- (in situ) or outside it (ex situ) (Orejuela gh Law 165 of 1994), the Convention 2010). If a remnant population is too on International Trade in Endange- small to support the species, it is likely red Species of Wild Fauna and Flora that the only way to avoid extinction is - CITES - and national legislation on to maintain a number |of individuals conservation, protection of the envi- temporarily in artificial conditions, a ronment, protected areas and sustai- strategy which is known as ex situ con- nable use (Olaya et al., 2002). In 2001 servation (Primack et al, 2001). Bogotá’s Botanical Garden, named after José Celestino Mutis, began One of the most common examples the process of structuring living co- of this kind of conservation are bota- llections named CEPAC, Colecciones nical gardens, which can also coor- Especializadas para la Conservación. dinate their activities with other ex Five botanical families make up the

Orquideología XXXI - 2 / 2014 CEPAC: Orchidaceae, Bromeliaceae, collection of secondary data. During Lamiaceae Cactaceae and Araceae. it those involved in the management

The five collections of living and cultivation of ex situ collections Científico serve as a source for propagation in of orchids present in Cundinamarca order to conserve rare or endange- were identified and contacted. red species and are part of the ex situ conservation strategy of botanical The second phase, field work, con- gardens (Santos et al, 2009.). sisted in the consultation of the da- tabases in Universidad Javeriana Her- In Colombia, and particularly in the barium (HPUJ), Herbario Nacional department of Cundinamarca, or- Colombiano (COL), Herbarium of the chid conservation is sustained and Botanical Garden José Celestino Mu- supported by orchid societies and tis (JBB), Herbario de la Universidad the people behind them. Depending Distrital (UDBC), Herbario de la Uni- on the quality of information sha- versidad de los Andes (ANDES), and red between the parts involved, the La Salle University Herbarium (BOG). members of orchid societies and José Then all orchid taxa found in Cundi- Celestino Mutis Botanical Garden namarca and collected in their natural specialize in certain groups or ge- habitat at an altitudinal range of 1800- nera of orchids, creating efficient te- 3900 m were selected. chniques for growing and managing these, using them for commercial The National Herbarium (COL) was purposes, horticulture, conservation, consulted online, [accessed 1 October ecotourism and public education. 2012]. University of the Andes Her- barium (ANDES) and the Pontificia The members of orchid societies and Universidad Javeriana (HPUJ) were Bogotá’s José Celestino Mutis Botani- visited personally, and taxa from José cal Garden have the potential to make Celestino Mutis Botanical Garden a significant contribution to the conser- Herbarium (JBB) were received by vation of threatened species of orchids email. Most taxa recorded in the (JBB) in Cundinamarca. For this reason, this come from private donations, confis- research project seeks to make a preli- cation, seized and bought plants. minary assessment of the representati- veness of orchids of the Andean forest For this research project all taxa and páramo of Cundinamarca in the ex that were not collected in field trips situ collections associated with the ma- or through university institutional nagement and propagation of orchids. arrangements were eliminated. In The success of an ex situ conservation other herbaria only the taxa collec- strategy can be facilitated by the com- ted in situ were considered, due to munication and cooperation of local the existence of records of species producers, botanical gardens and re- collected with orchid growers, ha- searchers (Primack et al, 2001). ciendas, or that bloom in Bogotá but originate in different departments, Methodology: The research project has not Cundinamarca, and at a different three main related phases. The first altitude origin than the set range phase, exploration, is the review and (1800 - 3900 m).

• 5 • With the identification of the actors tabase, preliminary listings and repre- involved in the management of ex situ sentativeness in living collections. collections of the family Orchidaceae in Cundinamarca, the list of registered To determine the degree of threat to orchids in the herbaria with some of the species of orchids, the Red Book of their synonyms was distributed to the Plants of Colombia: Orchids, Part One, owners of the collections, in order to as- was consulted; considering only taxa of sess representativeness in living collec- the genera in the altitude range of 1800- tions. The collections of the Botanical 3900 m present in Cundinamarca. Garden José Celestino Mutis were eva- luated through the list of orchids regis- Results: A network of actors, both tered in the Illustrated Guide to CEPAC, private and public, involved in the edited by the same botanical garden. management of ex situ collections and orchid conservation in Cundina- For the third phase, the analysis of re- marca was identified. Within this ne- sults, all the information gathered was twork José Celestino Mutis Botanical systematized and processed to develop Garden, and three orchid societies: the statistics needed to monitor trends Corporación Capitalina de Orquideo- in the results obtained. Data analysis logía, Fundación Orquideas de Co- was done in Microsoft Excel program lombia and the Asociación Bogotana for the development of a meta-data da- de Orquideología are found.

REPRESENTATIVENESS OF ORCHIDACEAE IN CUNDINAMARCA HERBARIA

A total of 385 taxa grouped in 62 National Herbarium (COL) and the genera, found in an altitude range of Herbarium of the Pontificia Universidad 1800 to 3900 m, were recorded for the Javeriana (HPUJ) (See Annex 1). department of Cundinamarca. This indicates that in the altitudinal strip The most abundant genera represen- between Andean forest and páramo ted in the altitudinal zone between areas in Cundinamarca, approximately Andean forest and páramo areas in 10% of species and 26% of the genera Cundinamarca are: Epidendrum, Pleu- recorded for Colombia are represented. rothallis, Stelis, Maxillaria and Cyrto- The herbaria with the largest number chilum. Thirty one percent (31%) of of collections of Orchidaceae family the genera are represented by only in Cundinamarca are the Colombian one species (See Figure 1).

REPRESENTATIVENESS OF ORCHIDACEAE IN LIVING COLLECTIONS OF CUNDINAMARCA

In this project the actors involved in Sixty percent (60%) of the orchid spe- orchid cultivation and management cies of Andean forest and high altitu- in Cundinamarca were each assigned de regions in Cundinamarca are pre- a code. The number of interviewed sent in collections owned by private actors was 21, these being 100% of sector actors, including members of the sample. orchid societies; 20% of the species

Orquideología XXXI - 2 / 2014 are present in the public sector collec- collections are Cyrtochilum, Epiden- tions, José Celestino Mutis Botanical drum, Masdevallia,

Garden in Bogota within the Specia- and Pleurothallis (See Figure 2). The Científico lized Collections for Conservation - genera that have no representation in CEPACs. The other 20% of the spe- the living collections are Aa, Corym- cies are not represented by any actor. bis, Epistephium, Erythrodes, Liparis, The genera with the highest per- Ornithocephalus, Pterichis, Spiranthes, centage of representation in living Stenoglossum and Vanilla.

CONSERVATION STATUS OF ORCHIDACEAE IN CUNDINAMARCA

In the Red Book of Plants: Orchids, Discussion: The low representation of Part One, 56 species were categori- ex situ collections of the Orchidaceae zed for Cundinamarca department, family of Cundinamarca is affected and 12 of the 18 evaluated genera, since there are many individuals that that is 67%, are represented in the are grown and are not from the region, department. Of the 56 taxa, 26 (46%) or in most cases, their origin is unk- are in threatened categories (see Fi- nown. These cultivated species are of gure 3). Of the 26 threatened species particular importance in the ornamen- 22 (85%) are unique to Colombia. tal plant trade, both nationally and internationally, with a good level of ta- The genera that have greater ende- xonomic knowledge, and easy propa- mism in Cundinamarca are Odonto- gation. According to Calderón (2007), glossum, Masdevallia and Restrepia growing orchids is a promising econo- (See Figure 4). The genera with the mic activity for the country. Plants can highest number of endemic threa- be grown but greater control must be tened species are Masdevallia and exercised and a better communication Odontoglossum (See Figure 5). Of the must exist so that growers can exchan- threatened species found in cultiva- ge different types of plants. tion 86% are endemic to Colombia. (EN), Mas- Consequently, most of the species of devallia caudata (EN), Anguloa clowe- these genera represented in the collec- sii (EN), Cattleya trianae (EN) and tions are threatened due to excessive Odontoglossum gloriosum (VU) are extraction, leading to the reduction of the endangered species with the hi- their populations, even to the point of ghest percentage of representation in ecological extinction in the wild. The the living collections of Cundinamar- activities of commercial growers and ca (See Table 1). collectors should not affect the size of natural populations by the looting Restrepia pandurata (CR), endemic to of species in ecosystems. Parental Colombia; is the only species of the plants and seedlings must be recor- Andean forest of Cundinamarca ca- ded; artificial propagation promoted tegorized as a Critically Endangered and growers should be allowed to ob- species with some representation in tain a limited amount of parent plants the collections (14%). so that they can be distributed natio- nally (Calderon et al., 2007).

• • Cundinamarca orchids that were stu- Much of our orchid diversity is concen- died in this project are distributed in trated in very few genera, and at least the altitudinal strip of Andean forest 1.7% of the genera contain a single to páramo areas. Some of these cold species. Most of the country’s genera weather orchids have problems of are represented by very few species. adaptation to culture conditions since they come from places that have not Calderon et al. (2007) found that 207 been intervened sharply, being scarce orchid species of Colombia had some and difficult to find. This is noticed degree of threat, including 6 species (see Figure 2) in genera such as Cra- critically endangered (CR), 64 en- nichis, Hofmeisterella, Pachyphyllum, dangered (EN), 137 vulnerable (VU). Ponthieva, Altensteinia, Malaxis, Cyclo- Consequently, priorities for the con- pogon, Lepanthopsis and Trichosalpinx servation of species of wild flora de- with a lower percentage of represen- fined for all Colombia are considered tation in living collections. Their po- in three categories: endemic species, pulations are small, with few indivi- species with restricted distribution duals, and some are hyper-dispersed. and species only known by the type. Moreover, the genera with zero per- Therefore, of the species referred centage (0%) representativeness to in this study, Restrepia pandurata are the least attractive, unknown or Rchb.f. (CR) exclusive of Colombia, taxonomically outdated. Aa, Corym- categorized as Critically Endangered bis, Epistephium, Erythrodes, Liparis, and known only for a plant that was Ornithocephalus, Pterichis, Spiranthes, found in 1880 in the region of the Stenoglossum and Vanilla. town of Fusagasugá, stands out.

Several have only one collected spe- Conclusions: The representativeness cies and are known from a single loca- of Orchidaceae in the herbaria of lity and they are the 20% of species not Cundinamarca indicates that in the represented by any actor in the mana- Andean forests and páramo areas of gement and conservation of orchids Cundinamarca, approximately 10% of in ex situ collections in Cundinamarca. the species and 26% of the genera re- It has been determined that the re- corded for Colombia are represented. presentativeness of species origi- The species with higher endemism in nal of the altitudinal strip between Cundinamarca are grouped into ge- Andean forest and páramo found in nera Odontoglossum, Masdevallia and the records of Cundinamarca herba- Restrepia. Most species of these gene- ria are consistent with the country’s ra represent in collections are threa- most abundant genera (See Figure tened due to over-harvesting causing 1). According to Sarmiento (2007), the reduction and disappearance of the most species-rich genera in the some populations in the wild. country are Epidendrum, Pleurotha- llis, Lepanthes, Maxillaria, Masdevallia To reduce the pressure on the popula- and Stelis. The genus Epidendrum has tions of showy orchids due to extrac- 456 recorded species for Colombia tion, different genres must be looked which represent 12% of total species for and trends among growers and in the country. national exhibitions modified, hybri-

Orquideología XXXI - 2 / 2014 dization techniques experimented, however, it would be appropriate that and only species that have a defined the network structure underwent propagation protocol can be mar- some adjustments if it were to meet Científico keted. It is important to see to the a conservation function effectively. representativeness of the different These changes could involve being groups of the family Orchidaceae in more inclusive, information must be the department, leaving the prefe- equally accessible for all and needs rence for ornamental species with to flow across the network, which potential for commercialization. Tra- would allow for future collections ining programs for the propagation of well identified orchids, the recor- of particularly threatened orchids in ding of parental plants, developing Cundinamarca should be promoted. seedlings, dissemination of propa- gation protocols, the development In general, it is found that the existen- of artificial propagation, regional in- ce of a network of private and public ventories of orchids and inventories actors involved in the management of clones and nonexistent varieties of orchids in Cundinamarca is some- or those insufficiently disseminated thing beneficial to their conservation; among the collections.

Acknowledgments: I thank Father Pedro Valdivieso Ortiz (RIP) who introdu- ced me to the study of the native orchids of Colombia. Thanks for his tea- chings, wisdom and for motivating me to know the orchids of my country. I also want to thank all orchid growers who took the time to show me their or- chids; to Asociación Bogotana de Orquideología , Corporación Capitalina de Orquideología and Fundación Orquídeas de Colombia. To the members of the Masdevallia study group, the Herbarium of the Pontificia Universidad Ja- veriana, and to Jorge Jácome and Daniel Castillo Brieva for their valuable input and suggestions in developing this work.

bibliogRaPhic RefeRences See spanish version

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