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Projected Status of the Ghost Orchid (Dendrophylax lindenii) in Florida during the Next Decade Based on Temporal Dynamic Studies Spanning Six Years

The enigmatic ghost orchid, Dendrophylax lindenii (Lindley) Bentham ex Rolfe, is a showy leafless epiphyte restricted to low-lying forests in south Florida and western Cuba. Because of its appeal and reputation for being difficult to cultivate, D. lindenii remains vulnerable to poaching and environm...

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Autores principales: Mújica, Ernesto B., Herdman, Adam R., Danaher, Mark W., González, Elaine H., Zettler, Lawrence W.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8401884/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34451624
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants10081579
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author Mújica, Ernesto B.
Herdman, Adam R.
Danaher, Mark W.
González, Elaine H.
Zettler, Lawrence W.
author_facet Mújica, Ernesto B.
Herdman, Adam R.
Danaher, Mark W.
González, Elaine H.
Zettler, Lawrence W.
author_sort Mújica, Ernesto B.
collection PubMed
description The enigmatic ghost orchid, Dendrophylax lindenii (Lindley) Bentham ex Rolfe, is a showy leafless epiphyte restricted to low-lying forests in south Florida and western Cuba. Because of its appeal and reputation for being difficult to cultivate, D. lindenii remains vulnerable to poaching and environmental changes. About 2000 individuals are assumed to remain in Florida, most confined within water-filled cypress domes in the Fakahatchee Strand, but virtually no information exists on current population numbers throughout the region. This paper provides a preliminary summary of the ghost orchid’s projected status based on six continuous years of data collected within the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge (FPNWR) from 2015–2020. The orchids were clustered in seven different populations, each separated by ca. 5 km. Quantitative data were collected spanning three age classes (seedlings, juveniles, mature plants) for each population, and survival, flowering, and fruiting were noted. To estimate the temporal variability in the demographic rates, size-structured integral projection models (IPMs) were constructed for each annual transition (e.g., 2015–2016, 2016–2017). Results for all seven populations pooled suggest that D. lindenii numbers will decline by 20% during the next decade in the absence of external adverse factors. Seedling recruitment is not expected to keep pace with the projected decline. Only one population, which was also from the wettest location, continuously harbored spontaneous seedlings, suggesting that most populations within the FPNWR lack conditions suitable for reproduction.
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spelling pubmed-84018842021-08-29 Projected Status of the Ghost Orchid (Dendrophylax lindenii) in Florida during the Next Decade Based on Temporal Dynamic Studies Spanning Six Years Mújica, Ernesto B. Herdman, Adam R. Danaher, Mark W. González, Elaine H. Zettler, Lawrence W. Plants (Basel) Article The enigmatic ghost orchid, Dendrophylax lindenii (Lindley) Bentham ex Rolfe, is a showy leafless epiphyte restricted to low-lying forests in south Florida and western Cuba. Because of its appeal and reputation for being difficult to cultivate, D. lindenii remains vulnerable to poaching and environmental changes. About 2000 individuals are assumed to remain in Florida, most confined within water-filled cypress domes in the Fakahatchee Strand, but virtually no information exists on current population numbers throughout the region. This paper provides a preliminary summary of the ghost orchid’s projected status based on six continuous years of data collected within the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge (FPNWR) from 2015–2020. The orchids were clustered in seven different populations, each separated by ca. 5 km. Quantitative data were collected spanning three age classes (seedlings, juveniles, mature plants) for each population, and survival, flowering, and fruiting were noted. To estimate the temporal variability in the demographic rates, size-structured integral projection models (IPMs) were constructed for each annual transition (e.g., 2015–2016, 2016–2017). Results for all seven populations pooled suggest that D. lindenii numbers will decline by 20% during the next decade in the absence of external adverse factors. Seedling recruitment is not expected to keep pace with the projected decline. Only one population, which was also from the wettest location, continuously harbored spontaneous seedlings, suggesting that most populations within the FPNWR lack conditions suitable for reproduction. MDPI 2021-07-31 /pmc/articles/PMC8401884/ /pubmed/34451624 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants10081579 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Mújica, Ernesto B.
Herdman, Adam R.
Danaher, Mark W.
González, Elaine H.
Zettler, Lawrence W.
Projected Status of the Ghost Orchid (Dendrophylax lindenii) in Florida during the Next Decade Based on Temporal Dynamic Studies Spanning Six Years
title Projected Status of the Ghost Orchid (Dendrophylax lindenii) in Florida during the Next Decade Based on Temporal Dynamic Studies Spanning Six Years
title_full Projected Status of the Ghost Orchid (Dendrophylax lindenii) in Florida during the Next Decade Based on Temporal Dynamic Studies Spanning Six Years
title_fullStr Projected Status of the Ghost Orchid (Dendrophylax lindenii) in Florida during the Next Decade Based on Temporal Dynamic Studies Spanning Six Years
title_full_unstemmed Projected Status of the Ghost Orchid (Dendrophylax lindenii) in Florida during the Next Decade Based on Temporal Dynamic Studies Spanning Six Years
title_short Projected Status of the Ghost Orchid (Dendrophylax lindenii) in Florida during the Next Decade Based on Temporal Dynamic Studies Spanning Six Years
title_sort projected status of the ghost orchid (dendrophylax lindenii) in florida during the next decade based on temporal dynamic studies spanning six years
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8401884/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34451624
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants10081579
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