From European priority species to characteristic apophyte: Epipactis tallosii (Orchidaceae)

Kristóf Süveges,Attila Molnár V,Réka Fekete,Tibor Ljubka,Orsolya Vincze,Attila Takács,Ádám Lovas-Kiss,Viktor Löki,Balázs András Lukács

doi:10.3372/wi.49.49310

Kristóf Süveges, Attila Molnár V + Show 7 more

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https://doi.org/10.3372/wi.49.49310

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Abstract

Epipactis tallosii is considered as one of the highly threatened European orchid species due to its local distribution and small isolated populations that are characterized by decreasing trends. The species is now enlisted in the endangered (EN) category of the Red List. Nevertheless, during the last decade, multiple new populations of the species were found in Hungary, while our field surveys indicated that E. tallosii populations regularly occur in poplar (Populus) plantations. Here we conducted a thorough field survey of poplar plantations, by visiting 182 plantations in Hungary and surrounding countries in the Pannonian Biogeographic Region. We found E. tallosii in 23% of the visited plantations, and counted a total of c. 4000 generative shoots. Moreover, we documented the occurrence of the species to four countries, where it has not been reported before: Croatia, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine. Alien and indigenous/mixed poplar plantations were similarly likely to harbour populations of E. tallosii. Our study suggests that the distribution area and number of populations of E. tallosii is much larger than previously assumed, and that poplar plantations serve as suitable habitat islands in the agricultural landscapes for this orchid. In the light of our results, we suggest the reassessment of the IUCN category of E. tallosii and to re-categorize it as Near Threatened (NT).Citation: Suveges K., Loki V., Lovas-Kiss A., Ljubka T., Fekete R., Takacs A., Vincze O., Lukacs B. A. & Molnar V. A. 2019: From European priority species to characteristic apophyte: Epipactis tallosii (Orchidaceae). – Willdenowia 49: 401–409. doi: https://doi.org/10.3372/wi.49.49310Version of record first published online on 4 December 2019 ahead of inclusion in December 2019 issue.

Highlights

The majority of European orchids are of significant conservation importance, due to their specific ecological and biological requirements
Our study suggests that the distribution area and number of populations of E. tallosii is much larger than previously assumed, and that poplar plantations serve as suitable habitat islands in the agricultural landscapes for this orchid
We surveyed a total of 182 poplar plantations and we found Epipactis tallosii (Fig. 1) in 47 of them, representing nearly a quarter of the examined plantations (c. 23%) (Appendix 1, supplemental content online)

Summary

Introduction

The majority of European orchids are of significant conservation importance, due to their specific ecological and biological requirements (for example: due to their dependence on mycorrhiza, their special lifestyles, or their extreme and unique pollination strategies). In terms of its biology, E. tallosii is an autogamous (self-pollinated) and mixotrophic, rhizomatous species and can be found in a wide range of habitat types It was found in various types of forests: in gallery forests (poplar gallery forests and riparian mixed forests of oak, elm and ash) in birch bogs, in oak and oak-hornbeam forests both on the lowlands and in more hilly regions, as well as in poplar plantations (Fig. 3) Poplar monocultures are known as suitable habitats for at least seven orchid taxa (including three Epipactis species) in four European countries (Table 1). During the last decade it has become increasingly evident that E. tallosii is widespread in Hungary and numerous populations of the species were found in poplar plantations Using the latter test we compared the proportion of plantations with and without E. tallosii between plantations containing native poplar species (i.e. native or mixed plantations) and plantations with only alien poplar species

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