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Conservation Strategies: Fairchild’s Million Orchid Project
2014-2015 Information and Procedures Packet
For more information on Challenge 7 requirements and deadlines, visit the following website pages:
HS Fairchild Challenge home page: http://www.fairchildgarden.org/education/the-fairchild-challenge/high-school
HS Challenges in Depth: http://www.fairchildgarden.org/education/the-fairchild-challenge/challenges-in-depth-hs
Contact: Danielle Pallow, Ph.D. at [email protected] or Jason Downing at [email protected]
**Procedures may be subject to change
THE FAIRCHILD CHALLENGE: MILLION ORCHID PROJECT
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, The Million Orchid Project and The Fairchild Challenge Program
&
Allison Academy, Archbishop Coleman Carroll, Barbara Goleman Senior, Christi/STEPSS Academy, Christopher Columbus, Coral Reef, Doctors Charter School, Dorothy M. Wallace Cope Center, Everglades Preparatory Academy, G. Holmes Braddock, Hialeah-Miami Lakes, Jose Marti MAST 6-12 Academy, Mater Academy East, Miami Beach, Miami Carol City, Miami Country Day School, Miami Jackson, Miami Killian, Miami MacArthur South, Miami Norland, Miami Northwestern, Miami Palmetto, North Miami Beach, Our Lady of Lourdes Academy , Palmer Trinity, Robert Morgan Educational Center, South Plantation, TERRA Environmental Research Institute, W. H. Turner Technical Arts, Westland Hialeah.
ABSTRACT
Florida is home to nearly half of the orchid species in the United States. In comparison to the rest of the continental US, Florida is an orchid hotspot and a region of significant research potential and conservation importance. As part of the Fairchild Challenge: “Million Orchid Project”, 30 Miami area high schools will assist in the mass propagation one the rarest Florida orchids, Cyrtopodium punctatum (Florida cowhorn), while experimenting with different propagation methods for this species. To determine the most effective propagation protocol, students will examine differences in seedling development and survivorship in response to different growth medias and mycorrhizal fungi. Each school will be given 24 flasks containing a total of approximately 1000 asymbiotically germinated Florida cowhorn seeds. For the first two months, students will carry out experimental treatments to test the effectiveness of three agar-solidified orchid growing media (P668 Phytotechnologies, P668+banana powder, W2.5 Western Orchids Inc.) in promoting protocorm and seedling development. During this period, students will record the number of protocorms, number of protocorms with roots, and the number of seedlings, on a bi-weekly basis. After the flasking stage, seedlings will be planted in growth chambers and students will examine the effects of mychorrizal fungi inoculation on subsequent seedling development and survivorship. Seedling growth and development will be tracked on a weekly basis as the number dead, number alive, and number with pseudobulb formation. Orchid growth will be measured as longest leaf. Each month root samples will be collected and screened for the acquisition of mycorrhizal fungi. This community driven conservation effort allows us achieve levels of production that would otherwise not be feasible, while providing the framework to conduct powerful and relevant scientific research. The goal of this research is to determine better protocols to produce viable seedlings for reintroductions and the long-term sustainability of the Florida cowhorn.
MATERIALS LIST: -Information and protocol packets -1 assembled lighting rack -1 power strip/extension cord -1 power outlet timers -24 flasks of C. punctatum seedlings; 3 agar-solidified media treatments (8 flasks per treatment)
Treatment 1 (Blue foil): P668 Orchid Maintenance Media™, PhytoTechnology Laboratories® Treatment 2 (Green foil): P668 Orchid Maintenance Media + 1% banana powder extract Treatment 3 (Silver foil): W2.5 Orchid Media™, Western Orchids ® INSTRUCTIONS AND MAINTENANCE: Lighting racks (4ft X 3ft) should be placed inside, in a secure area, with access to an electrical outlet. All orchid flasks should be placed on top lighting shelf and timer set for a 12hrs light/12hrs dark cycle; lower lights can remain powered off until seedlings are removed from flasks. Each week rotate the order of the flasks to insure each flask is receiving similar light conditions.
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES DURING IN FLASK STAGE:
1) Label each flask within each treatment group with an ID 2) Using the acetate grid provided record the total number of protocorms (P), protocorms with roots
only (PR), and seedlings (S) in each flask 3) Data will be collected on a bi-weekly basis and uploaded into an excel file. The data can be sent to
[email protected] and will be available on the Fairchild Challenge website. Please label file name with school name and date (exp. Miami High_Oct 15).
P
S
PR
Protocorm (P)
Tuber-like mass of embryonic tissue, lacks leaves and roots
Protocorm + root (PR)
A protocorm body with a root and no leaf formation
Seedling (S) Any tissue with a leaf
EXAMPLE OF FLASK DATA COLLECTION:
1- Overlay Acetate Grid on flask
2- Mark each individual on grid using dry different color dry erase markers for each life stage
Flask ID
No. of protocorms
No. of protocorms with roots
No. of seedlings
Date Treatment Flask ID No. protocorms (P)
No. protocorms with roots (PR)
No. of seedlings (S)
CYRTOPODIUM PUNCTATUM
The Florida cowhorn orchid (C. punctatum) is an epiphytic orchid that used to be abundant throughout Southern Florida (Ames 1904, Luer 1972). It is now legally endangered in the state of Florida (Coile and Garland 2003, Wunderline 2011). Currently wild populations have only been found in a small number of cypress domes and prairies in Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, Corkscrew Strand State Park, and the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, in southwest Florida. However, a growing population of cowhorn orchids also occurs on the southeast coast of Florida at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. This urban population is one of the most productive in the region, and now boasts over 25 individuals.
The Florida cowhorn also referred to as the, “bee swarm” orchid (see picture above), has a specialized
pollination system in which their flowers mimic the flowers of oil producing plants in the Family Malphighiaceae. This “cheater” orchid attracts female oil collecting bees in the genus Centris. There is only one native oil-collecting bee in southern Florida, Centris errans, which is the primary pollinator of cowhorns at Fairchild Garden. In addition to the specialized pollination system of these orchids, they also are dependent on specific mycorrhizal fungi for the germination of their seeds. Interactions with fungi are required for seed germination in all orchid species but they are also important for growth in later life stages.
The high degree of specialization in pollination and mycorrhizal seed germination are likely to be important factors in determining orchid species’ abundance and distribution, and the lack of specialized relationships are believed to impede the spread of many orchids. Research that identifies the factors that influence these specialized relationships are vital to developing better conservation protocols and management for this species.
Flowering cowhorn growing on live oak at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
Florida cowhorn’s commonly volunteer on palms at Fairchild Garden.
Seed pod
Pseudobulbs
References:
Ames O. (1904). A Contribution to Our Knowledge of the Orchid Flora of Southern Florida. Contributions from the Ames Botanical Laboratory I. E. W. Wheeler, Cambridge. Coile N. & Garland M. A. (2003). Notes on Florida’s Endangered and Rare Plants Page, 4th edn. Botany Section No. 38. Bureau of Entomology, Nematology and Plant Pathology, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry, Gainesville. Luer, C. A. (1972). The native orchids of Florida. New York Botanical Garden, New York. Wunderlin, R. P., & Hansen, B. F. (2012). Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants. [SM Landry and K. N. Campbell (application development), Florida Center for Community Design and Research] Institute for Systematic Botany, University of South Florida, Tampa. Notes:
