Earth’s most ubiquitous life-forms tend
to be generalists – species whose individuals can adapt to eating just about anything, anywhere. But the flowering plant family known as orchids
have gained a global presence by being specialists, with each species customized to a very specific
habitat. And behind orchids’ wild variety of looks
and behaviors are the same few stingy strategies. For one, while other flowering plants send
their seeds off with a supply of victuals to get them growing, orchids don’t – instead,
their seedlings must trick fungi into feeding them until they're old enough to photosynthesize
their own food. At that point, some species start giving back,
but others hoodwink their fungal partners into lifelong one-way relationships; in fact,
several are so dedicated to mooching that they don't even have the ability to produce
their own sugar. And many orchids also cheat their pollinators. While most flowers offer snacks to the critters
who transfer their pollen, orchids have a rich array of disguises that make them look
or smell like the pollinator’s potential mates or their favorite sugar-filled flowers. For example, Australian hammer orchids look
and smell like flightless female wasps. But when a male tries to carry her off to
mate, he catapults instead into the flower’s sex organs, sometimes picking up a sticky
packet of pollen. Then there's the orchid's choice of real estate. Instead of setting down roots in a patch of
rich soil, and then having to waste energy competing with other plants for light and
nutrients, most orchids settle in inhospitable, low-rent locations like bare bedrock, soggy
bogs, or the branches of trees. Orchids have customized these miserly habits
– mooching off of fungi, cheating pollinators, and choosing cheap real estate – to habitats
ranging from sub-Antarctic islands to tropical rainforests, and in the process, they blossomed
into an astounding 25,000 species, most of which are specialized to live in only one
particular place with its particular conditions. And their wild variety and exotic looks have
not escaped our notice. During the so-called Orchidelirium in 19th
century England, rich aristocrats sent orchid hunters off to scour the tropics for rare,
valuable finds; the hunters even sometimes torched or razed the forests behind them in
a quest for exclusivity. Today it’s illegal to collect or trade wild
orchids, but tens of thousands of flowers are sold on the black market each year, some
for tens of thousands of dollars. And, while orchid hunters themselves no longer
chop down whole forests, vast swaths of prime orchid habitat are lost to deforestation each
year, putting thousands of orchid species at risk of extinction. And yet, orchids' diverse splendor may actually
help save them, thanks to the devotion of a global network of orchidphiles. In 2010, police in England stood guard around
the clock to protect the country’s last wild lady’s slipper orchid from thieves. And in Ecuador, home to some of the highest
densities of orchids in the world, conservationists established rainforest reserves to save the
remarkable-looking Dracula orchids. Meanwhile, Australian citizens are building
fences to protect threatened spider orchids from grazing rabbits and kangaroos, and scientists
in the US are breeding rare cigar orchids in the lab and planting them in their native
habitat in South Florida. All to save a bunch of plants that lie, cheat,
steal, and – ooooooh, that one’s pretty! Hey! Emily here, thanks to Curtin University and
the University of Western Australia for sponsoring this video. Also, special thanks to Kingsley Dixon and
the rest of the folks in the Orchid Specialist Group of the IUCN’s Species Survival Commission
for sharing their expertise with us. The Specialist group is dedicated to helping
orchidphiles around the world learn more about Earth’s most diverse plant family, in order
to protect and restore orchids and their habitats.
This is a great video! Makes me love my little con artists even more.
I learned any how complex fungal networks can be and how vital they are to plant life this past spring. Still blows my mind how crazy it is beneath our feet