<br><tt><font size=3>Sharing an article that my colleague made me aware
of...</font></tt>
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<br><tt><font size=3>Citation:</font></tt>
<p><tt><font size=3>McCORMICK, M. K., LEE TAYLOR, D., JUHASZOVA, K., BURNETT,
R. K., WHIGHAM, D. F. and O’NEILL, J. P. (2012), Limitations on orchid
recruitment: not a simple picture. Molecular Ecology, 21: 1511–1523.
doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2012.05468.x</font></tt>
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<br><tt><font size=3>See the abstract below and for the full article, try
this link or </font></tt><font size=3>search the title in your web browser</font><tt><font size=3>:</font></tt>
<p><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2012.05468.x/abstract"><tt><font size=3>http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2012.05468.x/abstract</font></tt></a>
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<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Patricia S. De Angelis, Ph.D.<br>
Botanist, Division of Scientific Authority-US Fish & Wildlife Service-International
Affairs<br>
Chair, Medicinal Plant Working Group-Plant Conservation Alliance<br>
4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 110<br>
Arlington, VA 22203<br>
703-358-1708 x1753<br>
FAX: 703-358-2276<br>
<br>
Promoting sustainable use and conservation of our native medicinal plants.
<br>
<www.nps.gov/plants/medicinal><br>
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<br><font size=1 color=#800080 face="sans-serif">----- Forwarded by Patricia
De Angelis/ARL/R9/FWS/DOI on 07/03/2012 08:35 AM -----</font>
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<td width=40%><font size=1 face="sans-serif"><b>Patricia L Ford/ARL/R9/FWS/DOI</b>
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<p><font size=1 face="sans-serif">07/02/2012 10:19 AM</font>
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<div align=right><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Subject</font></div>
<td><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Fungi-Filled Forests are Critical if
Endangered Orchids are to Thrive</font></table>
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<br><font size=3 face="Verdana">Fungi-Filled Forests are Critical if Endangered
Orchids are to Thrive</font></div>
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<br><font size=3 face="Verdana">When it comes to conserving the world's
orchids, not all forests are equal. In a paper published in the journal
</font><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2012.05468.x" target=_blank><font size=3 color=#80803f face="Verdana"><i><u>Molecular
Ecology</u></i></font></a><font size=3 face="Verdana">, Smithsonian ecologists
reveal that an orchid's fate hinges on two factors: a forest's age and
its fungi.</font>
<br><font size=3 face="Verdana">Roughly 10 percent of all plant species
are orchids, making them the largest plant family on Earth. But habitat
loss has rendered many threatened or endangered. This is partly due to
their intimate relationship with the soil. Orchids depend entirely on microscopic
fungi in the early stages of their lives. Without the nutrients orchids
obtain by digesting these host fungi, their seeds often will not germinate
and orchid seedlings will not grow. While researchers have known about
the orchid-fungus relationship for years, very little is known about what
the fungi need to survive.</font>
<br><font size=3 face="Verdana">Biologists based at the Smithsonian Environmental
Research Center in Edgewater, Maryland, launched the first study to find
out what helps the fungi flourish and what that means for orchids. Led
by Melissa McCormick, the researchers looked at three orchid species, all
endangered in one or more U.S. states. After planting orchid seeds in dozens
of experimental plots, they also added particular host<i> </i>fungi needed
by each orchid to half of the plots. Then they followed the fate of the
orchids and fungi in six study sites: three in younger forests (50 to 70
years old) and three in older forests (120 to 150 years old).</font>
<br><font size=3 face="Verdana">After four years they discovered orchid
seeds germinated only where the fungi they needed were abundant—not merely
present. In the case of one species, <i>Liparis liliifolia </i>(lily-leaved
twayblade), seeds germinated only in plots where the team had added fungi.
This suggests that this particular orchid could survive in many places,
but the fungi they need do not exist in most areas of the forest.</font>
<br><font size=3 face="Verdana">Meanwhile, the fungi displayed a strong
preference for older forests. Soil samples taken from older forest plots
had host fungi that were five to 12 times more abundant compared to younger
forests, even where the research team had not added them. They were more
diverse as well. More mature plots averaged 3.6 different <i>Tulasnella
</i>fungi species per soil sample (a group of fungi beneficial to these
orchids), while the younger ones averaged only 1.3. Host fungi were also
more abundant in plots where rotting wood was added. These host fungi,
which are primarily decomposers, may grow better in places where decomposing
wood or leaves are plentiful.</font>
<br><font size=3 face="Verdana">All this implies that to save endangered
orchids, planting new forests may not be enough. If the forests are not
old enough or do not have enough of the right fungi, lost orchids may take
decades to return, if they return at all.</font>
<br><font size=3 face="Verdana">"This study, for the first time, ties
orchid performance firmly to the abundance of their fungi," McCormick
says. "It reveals the way to determine what conditions host fungi
need, so we can support recovery of the fungi needed by threatened and
endangered orchids."</font></table>
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