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Founded in 1921, the American Orchid Society, a not-for-profit, 501 C (3)
corporation, has brought together people from all over the world to share the
knowledge, the resources, and the passion of orchids in an effort to promote the
goals of the AOS; education, conservation, and orchid research. From
approximately 100 members operating from a room in Harvard University, the AOS
has grown, and today, we are 18,000 members across the world.
Since 1990, the AOS has funded nearly $1M in grants and fellowships for
education, conservation and research to universities and organizations across the
world. It is through the generosity of our donors and supporters that the AOS can
impact graduate level research and assist in identifying and protecting natural
orchid habitats. AOS research grants are important sources of “seed money” for
funding projects that produce preliminary data critical to the success of proposals
submitted to funding institutions such as the National Science Foundation for
larger grants.
For centuries orchids have been among the most popular of plant families, with
thousands of species and hybrids cultivated the world over for the diversity,
beauty, and intricacy of their flowers. While literature and artistic references to
orchids can be traced back at least 2500 years; the earliest written records dating
from the time of Confucius (about 500BC), it is only rather recently that we have
begun to fully understand their intricate relationships to the world’s ecology.
Orchids display a delicately balanced interdependence on the other plants,
animals and insects that coexist within their habitats. Orchid seed, lacking an
endosperm (the seed coat that nourishes the developing embryo), is critically
dependent on non-pathological mycorhizal fungi for the nutrients necessary for
germination. Without these beneficial fungi orchid seed do not germinate in-situ.
We are just now understanding that this relationship is so carefully balanced that
a specific mycorhizal fungus species may infect a specific orchid species and the
two may coexist on only one tree species. In addition, orchid pollen is aggregated
into masses or pollinia making wind distribution impossible. This has lead to
intricate dependence on insects and birds to effect pollination. In many cases the
relationship is so specific that a single insect species pollinates a specific orchid
species and is completely ineffective at pollinating a very closely related species in
flower in the same habitat and at the same time. The epitome of this specificity is
the group of orchids that attract their pollinators using insect sex pheromones. In
these orchids the flower may even resemble the female insect.
These complex interdependencies make orchids extremely susceptible to the
effects of climate change, deforestation, and the global spread of pesticides. The
loss of an insect pollinator may spell doom for the orchid which depends on it for
pollination. Habitat destruction through deforestation or development have
obvious consequences but even climate change may have a dramatic effect on
orchid populations as wet habitats dry up and seasonally dry habitats become
more uniformly moist. To quote the author of Ecology of Orchids, “conservation
should not be accepted as meaning saving a particular plant or bird or scenic site.
Rather, conservation is best thought of as a management of natural ecosystems in
such a way that they benefit man not only now but in the future.”
corporation, has brought together people from all over the world to share the
knowledge, the resources, and the passion of orchids in an effort to promote the
goals of the AOS; education, conservation, and orchid research. From
approximately 100 members operating from a room in Harvard University, the AOS
has grown, and today, we are 18,000 members across the world.
Since 1990, the AOS has funded nearly $1M in grants and fellowships for
education, conservation and research to universities and organizations across the
world. It is through the generosity of our donors and supporters that the AOS can
impact graduate level research and assist in identifying and protecting natural
orchid habitats. AOS research grants are important sources of “seed money” for
funding projects that produce preliminary data critical to the success of proposals
submitted to funding institutions such as the National Science Foundation for
larger grants.
For centuries orchids have been among the most popular of plant families, with
thousands of species and hybrids cultivated the world over for the diversity,
beauty, and intricacy of their flowers. While literature and artistic references to
orchids can be traced back at least 2500 years; the earliest written records dating
from the time of Confucius (about 500BC), it is only rather recently that we have
begun to fully understand their intricate relationships to the world’s ecology.
Orchids display a delicately balanced interdependence on the other plants,
animals and insects that coexist within their habitats. Orchid seed, lacking an
endosperm (the seed coat that nourishes the developing embryo), is critically
dependent on non-pathological mycorhizal fungi for the nutrients necessary for
germination. Without these beneficial fungi orchid seed do not germinate in-situ.
We are just now understanding that this relationship is so carefully balanced that
a specific mycorhizal fungus species may infect a specific orchid species and the
two may coexist on only one tree species. In addition, orchid pollen is aggregated
into masses or pollinia making wind distribution impossible. This has lead to
intricate dependence on insects and birds to effect pollination. In many cases the
relationship is so specific that a single insect species pollinates a specific orchid
species and is completely ineffective at pollinating a very closely related species in
flower in the same habitat and at the same time. The epitome of this specificity is
the group of orchids that attract their pollinators using insect sex pheromones. In
these orchids the flower may even resemble the female insect.
These complex interdependencies make orchids extremely susceptible to the
effects of climate change, deforestation, and the global spread of pesticides. The
loss of an insect pollinator may spell doom for the orchid which depends on it for
pollination. Habitat destruction through deforestation or development have
obvious consequences but even climate change may have a dramatic effect on
orchid populations as wet habitats dry up and seasonally dry habitats become
more uniformly moist. To quote the author of Ecology of Orchids, “conservation
should not be accepted as meaning saving a particular plant or bird or scenic site.
Rather, conservation is best thought of as a management of natural ecosystems in
such a way that they benefit man not only now but in the future.”
Ron McHatton is Chief Operating Officer and
Director of Education of American Orchid
Society, 16700 AOS Lane, Delray Beach, FL
33446-4351
Director of Education of American Orchid
Society, 16700 AOS Lane, Delray Beach, FL
33446-4351
