Science & Tech · Science & Environment · 3 hrs ago
More than 19,500 orchids rescued from Kerala road projects survived
Researchers in Kerala rescued 27,324 orchids from trees felled or marked for removal during road development.
Many orchids grow on trees, so they can die when their host trees are cut down.
The plants were moved to three public sites: Kappad Beach, Sarovaram Bio Park and Malabar Botanical Garden.
Nearly 71% survived after 12 to 24 months, and some flowered and produced seed capsules.
The rescued plants included 12 orchid species found only in the region, but 11 of those species have no IUCN Red List status, leaving their conservation status unknown.
Kerala is home to 271 known orchid species, and researchers say road building may be causing losses that have gone unrecorded.
The researchers say moving orchids should be a last resort when the trees they grow on cannot be kept.
Researchers in Kerala rescued 27,324 orchids threatened by road development and replanted them at three public sites.
After 12 to 24 months, more than 19,500 orchids, nearly 71%, were still alive.
Nearly 55% of the 6,126 rescued orchids endemic to the region survived.
Some rescued orchids flowered and produced seed capsules, despite being moved from cool, hilly areas to warmer places near sea level.
The researchers also used QR codes to share information about 10 orchid species with visitors at one of the sites.
- Who
- Researchers in Kerala, including study co-author Viswambharan Sarasan.
- What
- They rescued and replanted 27,324 orchids threatened by road development. More than 19,500 survived.
- When
- Survival was assessed after 12 to 24 months.
- Where
- Kerala, India. The orchids were replanted at Kappad Beach, Sarovaram Bio Park and Malabar Botanical Garden.
- Why
- Road projects threatened the trees the orchids grew on, and the orchids could die when those trees were cut down.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Researchers collected orchids from trees that had been felled or were scheduled to be cut down for road development.
Researchers planted 27,324 orchids at Kappad Beach, Sarovaram Bio Park and Malabar Botanical Garden.
More than 19,500 orchids, nearly 71%, had survived.
The 10 orchid species tagged with QR codes at Sarovaram generated more than 126,000 scans.
- Orchids rescued
- 27,324
- Survived
- More than 19,500, nearly 71%
- Endemic orchids rescued
- 6,126
- Endemic orchids survived
- Nearly 55%
- Replanting sites
- Kappad Beach; Sarovaram Bio Park; Malabar Botanical Garden
- QR-code scans
- More than 126,000 over two years
What people are saying
There is a kind of silent extinction going on with some of these orchids
We don’t know how many of these orchids are being lost to road-building program over the last 15-20 years.
That was a really big surprise
rescue translocation can transform orchids facing otherwise inevitable destruction during infrastructure development into living conservation assets