Inter-annual variability in flowering of orchids: lessons learned from 8 years of monitoring in a Mediterranean region of France

Hélène Vogt-Schilb,Bertrand Schatz,Franck Richard,Philippe Geniez,Roger Pradel

doi:10.14712/23361964.2015.16

Abstract

It is important to evaluate the loss of biodiversity caused by global changes. In the case of orchids, it is still unclear how long the monitoring duration should be chosen in order to achieve a good compromise between the reliability of the orchid dynamics recorded and sampling duration (e.g. years of monitoring). This study aims to propose a method of monitoring orchids. Using a large database, we investigated the inter-annual variability in flowering of orchids in a French Mediterranean region. The database includes an 8-year-long study (2006–2013) of 47 species at 26 locations in three different types of habitats. The number of individual plants that flowered per species varied significantly between years, but not the number of species. Depending on habitat, two to four years were needed to observe the total number of species per location. Therefore, in Mediterranean regions a one-year-study seems to be insufficient to produce reliable results.

Highlights

In the era of global change that deeply affects organisms on our planet (Parmesan 2006), there is an increasing urgency to evaluate the loss in biodiversity (Barnosky et al 2011; Thuiller et al 2011)
We investigated the temporal dynamics of orchid assemblages, at both the species and community level (47 species of orchids) in a Mediterranean region of France (Languedoc-Roussillon)
This study aims to address the following questions: Vogt-Schilb, H. et al.: Inter-annual variability in flowering of orchids: lessons learned from 8 years of monitoring in a Mediterranean region of France

Summary

Introduction

In the era of global change that deeply affects organisms on our planet (Parmesan 2006), there is an increasing urgency to evaluate the loss in biodiversity (Barnosky et al 2011; Thuiller et al 2011). Limiting our topic in orchids, it has been well acknowledged that orchids are ideal models to evaluate the impact of global change on biodiversity. First of all, they show clear and fast responses to environmental changes, including a current and well documented decline in occurrence or population size (Whigham and Willems 2003; Schatz et al 2013). Many orchids are emblematic species (Cribb et al 2003) and there is an increasing need to study them with the aim of conservation They show well-documented patterns of endemism and rarity (Bournérias and Prat 2005; Dusak and Prat 2010)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion