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Is orchid species richness and abundance related to the conservation status of oak forest?

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Abstract

The response of organisms to anthropogenic or natural modification of the environment is one of the most important questions in conservation biology and ecological theory. In spite of the fact that orchids are one of the most studied groups of plants, little information exists regarding their response to habitat alteration. The few existing studies are biased toward European orchid species and no consensus exists with regard to the response of orchids to human and natural disturbance. In this study, we sampled 30 transects (0.1 ha each) of oak forest located in Morelos, Central Mexico, and measured 13 variables related to forest aging and stump abundance, and six variables of orchid species richness and abundance. Neither abundance nor the richness and specific abundance of orchid genus or species were related to timber extraction. The abundance of dead standing trees in the forest, a surrogate variable of forest age, was positively related to abundance of orchids of the genus Malaxis, orchid richness and orchid abundance. This finding suggests that the conservation of all facets of the studied forest orchid community is dependent on natural processes (such as self-thinning) and the maintenance of older areas of the forest, and concurs with previous studies that suggest that natural disturbance is a key process for orchid survival.

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Acknowledgments

Álvaro Flores Castorena, Javier García-Cruz (Orchidaceae), Susana Valencia Ávalos (Fagaceae), Gabriel Flores Franco (trees) and José Luis Villaseñor (Asteraceae) helped with species identification. A. Flores Castorena, A. M. Corona López, P. Castillo España, S. Valencia-Díaz, K. Macmillan and two anonymous reviewers provided comments and constructive criticism. This research was supported by a PROMEP grant to AFP (PROMEP/103.5/05/1901) and to the Cuerpo Académico Biología del Dosel (UAEMOR-CA-115, Red “Sistemática y Ecología en Comunidades Forestales y Cultivos apoyo 2009–2010). An earlier version was presented by QTCF as a Bachelor thesis at the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos.

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  1. Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Conservación (CIByC), Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Av. Universidad 1001, Col. Chamilpa, C.P. 62209, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

    Quetzal Tonalli Cruz-Fernández, María Luisa Alquicira-Arteaga & Alejandro Flores-Palacios

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  1. Quetzal Tonalli Cruz-Fernández
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  2. María Luisa Alquicira-Arteaga
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  3. Alejandro Flores-Palacios
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Correspondence to Alejandro Flores-Palacios.

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Cruz-Fernández, Q.T., Alquicira-Arteaga, M.L. & Flores-Palacios, A. Is orchid species richness and abundance related to the conservation status of oak forest?. Plant Ecol 212, 1091–1099 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-010-9889-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-010-9889-4

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