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Potential Challenges of Climate Change to Orchid Conservation in a Wild Orchid Hotspot in Southwestern China

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Abstract

Southwestern China including Guangxi Province is one of nine world hotspots for orchid. Warming in the region in the past century was around 0.5°C, slightly lower than the global average of 0.7°C, while rainfall has remained the same. It is projected that the warming trend will continue for the next two centuries, while precipitation will increase slightly, and soil moisture level will decrease. We identify a number of threats due to climate changes to orchid community in the Yachang Orchid Nature Reserve in Guangxi (hereafter refer to as Yachang Reserve), a good representative of the region. Firstly, decreased soil moisture is likely to have a negative effect on growth and survival of orchids, especially terrestrial and saprophytic ones. Sixty eight (50%) orchid species in the Yachang Reserve are in this category. Secondly, the greater majority of the orchids in Yachang Reserve (72%) have populations on or close to the limestone mountain tops. These populations are likely to shrink or even become extinct as the warming continues because they have no higher places to which they are able to migrate. Natural poleward migration is unlikely for these populations because of the complex terrain, small size of the reserve and human-dominated surroundings. Species with narrow distributions (14%) and/or small population sizes (46%) will be the most vulnerable. In addition, populations represent the southern limit of the species (24%) are also prone to local extinction. Thirdly, extreme rainfall events are projected to occur more frequently, which can exacerbate erosion. This may impact orchid populations that grow on steep cliffs. Fifty seven species (42%) of the orchids in Yachang have cliff populations. Fourthly, the majority of orchid species have specialized insect pollination systems. It is unknown whether the change or lack of change in plant phenology will be in synchrony with the potential phenological shifts of their pollinators. Fifty four (40%) orchid species in Yachang Reserve flower in the spring and are potentially subject to this threat. Finally, mycorrhizal fungi are vital for seed germination for all orchids and important for post-seedling growth for some species. Yet there is a lack of knowledge of the nature of mycorrhiza on all orchids in the region, and little is known on the responses of these vital symbiotic relationships to temperature and soil moisture. Overall, 15% of the orchid species and a quarter of the genera bear high risk of population reduction or local extinction under the current projection of climate change. While studies on predicting and documenting the consequences of climate change on biodiversity are increasing, few identified the actual mechanisms through which climate change will affect individual species. Our study provides a unique perspective by identifying specific threats to a plant community.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Vice Governor of Guangxi, Dr. Chen Zhangliang, for his vision to convene the Guangxi International Orchid Symposium, which stimulated this synthesis. We are indebt to the staff of Yachang, especially Wu Tiangui and Luo Dun for their logistic support of the conservation research in Yachang Reserve. Graduate students Lin Wuying and Ma Xiaokai from the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academic of Sciences, Yachang staff Liu Shiyong, Deng Zhenhai, Wei Xinlian, Lan Yutian, and Huanglan are acknowledged for their excellent field assistance. Travel support to HL, HYG, and YBL from the Guangxi Forestry Bureau and research support to HL, YBL, BSC, ZSW and HYG from the Guangxi Science and Technology Bureau (Chairman’s Foundation grant #09203-04) are greatly appreciated. Financial supports from The Mohamed bin Zayed species conservation fund (0905324) to HL and YBL, and the Social Welfare Research Project (2005DIB6J144) of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China to CLF help to cover partial costs of research related to this project. Drs. Amots Dafni, Philip Seaton, David Roberts, Richard Primack, Robert Pemberton, and Kenneth J. Feeley provided critical reviews on earlier drafts of the ms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Environment, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th Street, Miami, FL, 33199, USA

    Hong Liu

  2. Center for Tropical Plant Conservation, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Coral Gables, FL, USA

    Hong Liu

  3. Guangxi Key Laboratory of Subtropical Bioresources Conservation and Utilization, Guangxi University, Nanning, China

    Hong Liu & Bao-Shan Chen

  4. Experimental Center of Tropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Pingxiang, China

    Chang-Lin Feng

  5. State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Yi-Bo Luo

  6. Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Global Changes, School of Biological Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

    Zhong-Sheng Wang

  7. College of Biological Sciences, Beijing University, Beijing, China

    Hong-Ya Gu

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Liu, H., Feng, CL., Luo, YB. et al. Potential Challenges of Climate Change to Orchid Conservation in a Wild Orchid Hotspot in Southwestern China. Bot. Rev. 76, 174–192 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12229-010-9044-x

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