Abstract
The yellow early marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza incarnata subsp. ochroleuca) is critically endangered in the UK. Reintroduction of this threatened orchid to former haunts that have been restored is a long-term objective of this study. Identifying germination-specific mycorrhizal fungus lineages from closely related species is used as a method due to the extremely small number of plants left in the wild. A putative orchid mycorrhizal fungus of the family Tulasnellaceae, isolated from Dactylorhiza praetermissa, supported in vitro seed germination to produce reintroduction-ready seedlings. Reintroduced symbiotic seedlings survived over the winter months in the flooded reintroduction site (RS). The comparative soil analysis for key nutrients before reintroduction showed that phosphorus content in the RS is very low compared to the soil collected from the wild site (WS) where the last viable population exists. On the other hand, C:N ratio in the soil at the WS and RS were not significantly different. To our knowledge, this is the first-ever report on the reintroduction of symbiotic seedlings of a threatened orchid back to the wild in the UK.
Highlights
The result of this study shows the only remaining population is in a nutrient-rich habitat compared to several other reports where orchids are found in nutrient-poor habitats
Identifying germination specific Orchid mycorrhizal fungal isolates (OMFs) from a closely related species was found to be useful in producing resilient symbiotic seedlings suitable for preliminary reintroduction trials
Such assessments underpinned by soil and hydrological data will further help the process of large-scale reintroduction/translocation studies
Summary
Success rates of augmenting populations in the wild worldwide are not very encouraging as rapidly increasing numbers of orchids are being included in the list of species threatened with extinction. A Scopus search in March 2021 for “orchid; mycorrhiza; reintroduction,” returned just 34 publications including review papers for the period covering the last 20 years. This number further reduced when reports on the survival or establishment of plants were included. Reintroduction is a conservation strategy often employed for threatened orchid taxa [1,2]. Reintroduction, for this study, is defined as the planting of in vitro propagated plants within their indigenous range
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
