Panther Advocates – see News Press Article on orchids at Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge
--Elizabeth
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Orchids' health speaks volumes
Imperiled species hint at troubled ecosystem
1:10 A.M. — Deep in the silent and ancient spookiness of a cypress swamp in the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge - complete with an 8-foot alligator - was a sight to make an orchid hunter's mouth water.
A half-dozen clamshell orchids and a dingy-flower star orchid grew on a pop ash; a few yards away, beyond a 600- to 800-year-old cypress tree, was a night-scented orchid. All three species were delicate, beautiful and endangered.
Refuge wildlife biologist Larry Richardson had waded into the cold, thigh-deep water to see how the orchids had fared during the freezes of December and January.
The verdict: They did just fine. These orchids are epiphytic, which means they grow on trees, and their host trees were growing in standing water.
"It's a simple concept," Richardson said. "Water collects solar radiation during the day and gives heat off at night to keep the orchids warm. It can be 32 degrees at night outside the swamp and 38 degrees 100 yards away in the swamp. That's enough to keep them alive."
Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge is home to 27 orchid species, 13 of which are endangered.
Keeping an eye on the health of the refuge's orchids is one task of the Florida Orchid Restoration Partnership, a cooperative effort between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the University of Florida. Relying on graduate students from UF and Illinois College, the partnership's goal is to study, manage and preserve orchids in South Florida.
Of water and shade
Among other things, researchers are looking at the refuge's orchid populations, orchid genetics and relationships between orchids and insects.
"Why should we worry about these little, dinky plants?" said Michael Kane, a professor in UF's Environmental Horticulture Department. "The issues are bigger than the plants. It's not just the plants. It's the pollinators and other insects that depend on specific orchid species.
"The plants are part of the overall fabric of their ecosystem. It can get pretty complicated."
The biggest reason for crashing orchid populations in the refuge, and, by projection, elsewhere in South Florida, is lack of water due to changes in hydrology.
After visiting the thigh-deep cypress swamp, Richardson drove to a dry swamp, called Unit 1, that historically held water at this time of year.
But canals dug during the construction of Interstate 75 drained the land, and Unit 1 has no water during the dry season, which also is the cold season.
As a result, orchids have no water to keep them warm - and alive - during a freeze.
"There were orchids here when there was year-round water," Richardson said. "There are no orchids now because they're freezing because there's no water because of the canals because of people like you and me."
Lack of water also has allowed cabbage palms to move in huge numbers into formerly wet areas.
These trees block sunlight, so terrestrial orchids - orchids that grown on the ground, such as pine pinks - don't flourish.
Orchids a good sign
"I've found pine pinks out along road edges because that's where the sun was," Richardson said. "When we cleared cabbage palms from one area, pine pinks moved right in.
"Water is central to everything. Orchids tell us what's right and wrong about the ecosystem. If you have healthy orchid populations, you have a healthy ecosystem."
To help bring back orchid populations, researchers in the restoration partnership have learned how to grow orchids from seeds of refuge orchids.
Since 2006, they've introduced about 500 night-scented, yellow-helmet, clamshell and cigar orchids into the refuge; 70 percent have survived.
"We want to effect orchid restoration on the refuge," Richardson said. "Then we'll go to places like Big Cypress National Preserve and Fakahatchee Strand and say, 'Hey, you want some orchids? It ain't gonna cost anything.'"
Big Cypress botanist Jim Burch likes the idea of restoring orchid populations.
A beautiful payoff
"It's a matter of re-establishing a more natural habitat, a habitat that's more like what it was here before it became perturbed by people," he said. "Orchids are something people like to see and associate with these areas."
Orchids are, indeed, something people like to see, sometimes to the point of obsession.
"There's definitely a fascination," Richardson said. "Part of it is because they're hard to grow, and when you do get a bloom, you have an incredibly beautiful payoff.
"There's a lot of gee-whiz stuff about orchids. It rubs off on you. It makes you fall in love with them and say, 'Hey, we can't let them disappear. They're just too cool.'"
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