Walk almost any rainforest trail in Panama and you will see orchids. There are about 1,500 species of orchids in Panama, making it one of the most orchid rich countries in the world. They can be minature or grand, but there is no doubt they are mystical. Many varieties of orchid in Panama are on the verge of extinction. It is illegal to take orchids found in the rainforest. When hiking the trails please, "Take only pictures; Leave only footprints".
Recently the Smithsonian Tropical Reseach Institute in Panama published their study on Orchids and climate Change:
Functional biodiversity of photosynthesis in tropical orchids
July 05, 2010
Story: Katia Silvera and Klaus Winter
Edited by M Alvarado and ML Calderon
Orchids are the largest family of flowering plants with over 20,000 species worldwide, from which about 75% are epiphytes. Orchids occupy a diverse variety of habitats, but little was known about how diverse they were at avoiding drought stress associated with life in the canopy.
Recently, former STRI fellow Katia Silvera obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Nevada Reno. With colleagues Louis Santiago, from the University of California Riverside, John Cushman, from the University of Nevada Reno and Klaus Winter, from STRI, she measured 1,000 orchid species for the presence of Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM), a water-conserving photosynthetic pathway. They surveyed 61% of the total number of orchids for Panama and Costa Rica, thus providing a useful checklist for researchers.
"This is an important piece of modern functional biodiversity research in the tropics," said Winter. "Orchids comprise about 10% of all vascular plants. The more we learn about the CAM mechanism in this huge family, the more we will know about the global significance of this specialized process of carbon sequestration and how it is affected by Climate change."
The report of this study was published in the June issue of the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010. It can be obtained from calderom@si.edu
http://stri.org/english/about_stri/headline_news/news/article.php?id=1170
Floods, droughts, pollution and climate change have created even more problems. It is important that China play an increasingly prominent role on climate change. right??
Posted by: Jordan Hydro | August 05, 2010 at 10:43 PM
That's why Boquete is called the Eternal Spring!
Posted by: Boquete | July 12, 2010 at 11:34 AM