Ponente
Descripción
For nearly half a century, scientists representing Marie Selby Botanical Gardens (Selby) have explored, documented, and conserved neotropical air plants, particularly orchids. Together Selby’s researchers have amassed one of the world’s largest and most significant orchid collections with supporting scholarly literature. More than twenty-five Selby research associates have surveyed Neotropical countries collecting and describing orchid species. Taxonomists such as C. Luer have worked extensively in the Pleurothallinidae, while B. Holst, and others, have made extensive explorations of the American tropics. At Selby, we work with collaborators and research associates from the Caribbean region developing important investigations in areas such as conservation, taxonomy, and ecology.
Currently, orchid research in floristics, phylogenetics, and conservation is focused in Florida and Colombia. Through Selby’s Colombian flagship project, Orquídeas para la Paz, we have identified more than 414 orchid species distributed within Caquetá Colombia through expeditions with local biology students and communities. We have contributed to the creation of nurseries for orchid discovery, horticulture development, and conservation. These results support global efforts to mediate the effects of the biodiversity crisis by improving our measures of orchid richness and endemism and by identifying rare and threatened species. In Florida, we work with students and partner botanical gardens to study the genetic diversity, pollination, ecology, and conservation status of rare orchids. We hope to expand our collaborations to Cuba and, in the future, to include the entire Neotropical region.
