Positive interaction between shrubs and native orchids in a Mediterranean ecosystem
- PDF / 1,972,905 Bytes
- 12 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 32 Downloads / 138 Views
ORIGINAL ARTICLE - ECOLOGY & BIOGEOGRAPHY
Positive interaction between shrubs and native orchids in a Mediterranean ecosystem Cristian Atala1 · Mariela Baldelomar2 · Cristian Torres‑Díaz3 · Guillermo Pereira4 · Felipe Cacciuttolo1 · Reinaldo Vargas5 · Marco A. Molina‑Montenegro2,6,7 Received: 8 April 2020 / Revised: 22 September 2020 / Accepted: 30 September 2020 / Published online: 13 October 2020 © Botanical Society of Sao Paulo 2020
Abstract In the Mediterranean portion of Central Chile, where anthropic disturbances are common and severe, precipitations could drastically decrease and temperatures increase due to climate change. In this ecological context, positive interactions between plants could increase in relevance since they can increase growth and survival in stressful conditions. In this area, natural populations also suffer herbivore damage, mainly by cattle and other introduced species. The orchid family is represented in Chile by terrestrial species only that grow in natural and disturbed sites where native shrubs are common. These species have been poorly studied in terms of their ecology, and some species are currently severely threatened. In this study, we tested if native shrubs can facilitate Chilean orchids, reducing abiotic stress and herbivory. We evaluated this positive interaction in three sites with different orchid and shrub species. We found that in all sites, there are more orchid individuals growing inside the canopy of shrubs compared to open areas. Additionally, abiotic conditions were milder and herbivory was reduced inside shrubs in all sites. Our results suggest that there is a positive interaction between native shrubs and native orchids that could result in increased survival in orchid individuals growing inside the canopy of such shrubs. This result could be essential for future conservation and restoration initiatives that should take into account the need for shrubs before re-introduction of individuals in the field, especially for endangered orchid species present in Central Chile. Keywords Central Chile · Chilean orchids · Plant–plant interactions · Reduced herbivory · Stress amelioration
1 Introduction * Cristian Atala [email protected] 1
Laboratorio de Anatomía y Ecología Funcional de Plantas, Instituto de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Campus Curauma, Avenida Universidad 330, Valparaíso, Chile
2
Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Talca, Avda. Lircay s/n, Talca, Chile
3
Grupo de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Cambio Global (GIBCG), Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad del Bío-Bío, Chillán, Chile
4
Departamento de Ciencias y Tecnología Vegetal, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 234, Los Ángeles, Chile
5
Departamento de Biología, Herbario Federico Johow, Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación, Avda. José Pedro Alessandri 774, Ñuñoa, Santiago, Chile
6
Centro de Investigación en Estudios Avanzados del Maule (CIEAM), Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca, Chile
7
Data Loading...
