Your first mistake is that you studied terrestrials. You can’t learn anything from terrestrials. Or, you can learn a thousand times more from epiphytes. I kid… kinda.
Here’s my original point put differently...
Hundreds of thousands of microsperms ripen in a single orchid capsule, assuming a far denser seed rain than possible for any of the bromeliads (100-300 seeds per capsule for Tillandsia) or the cactus. - David Benzing, Bromeliaceae
If you think about that passage from the gutter… I think it’s pretty hard not to imagine a dense rain of human sperm. Can you imagine how gross and frightening that would be? I’m surprised nobody’s made a movie with this subject. It would have to be the scariest movie ever. I think most people would prefer to be in a city attacked by Godzilla rather than in a city hit by a major sperm thunderstorm. Especially if it was a city where nobody takes umbrellas with them… like Los Angeles.
Benzing is the premier epiphyte expert. The far denser orchid seed rain, plus epiphytism, largely explains why the orchid family is so successful. The orchid family is really good at hedging its bets. As we all know though… no two individuals in any family are equally successful. If you have another theory why orchids are so successful then I’m all ears.
But that’s a pretty neat and surprising coincidence that somebody on this site has studied orchids! Even if it is only terrestrial orchids. A while back a friend convinced me to go look at one of our terrestrial orchid species in its native habitat a few hours drive away. They were hanging out in a stream in the middle of the desert. I nearly died from boredom checking them out. After spending so much time inspecting the wonderfulness of orchids growing on trees… I had zero capacity to appreciate orchids that were growing on the ground. I kid… kinda. I like plenty of plants… even terrestrials. But, I can only carry so much… so I choose to primarily try and carry epiphytes.
I will have to look up Benzing; my primary interest was in establishing nature reserves, so I could not quite concentrate on taxa. I think you would find terrestrials more interesting if you consider the problem of evolving traits adaptive for both protocorms and adults (rather like beetle larvas/imagoes thing) and the barely studied link between them. Dissemination is but the first step… Availability of symbiotic fungi may be the limiting factor in their spread, and it is actually testable. This is, for me, part of the terrestrials’ attraction: that I can use Science to segregate what influences them, and to what extent.
As to ‘successful plant families’, one doesn’t have to look beyond the grasses.
Establishing nature reserves is hugely important… the problem is that the large bulk of valuation primarily takes place outside of the market. The result is that reserves are incorrectly valued. My guess is that if we created a market within the public sector… then reserves would receive a lot more money than they currently do. Here’s my most recent attempt to explain this… Football Fans vs Nature Fans.
I was just giving terrestrials a hard time in my previous comment. I think all nature is fascinating. But especially epiphytes. The relationship between orchids and fungi is very intriguing. A few years back I sprinkled some orchid seeds on my tree. I forgot about them until I noticed these tiny green blobs forming directly on the bark on my tree. Upon closer inspection I realized that they were orchid protocorms. It was a thrilling discovery. What was especially curious was that none of the protocorms were more than 1/2″ away from the orchid root of a mature orchid. Of course I didn’t only place orchid seeds near the roots. I couldn’t possibly control where the tiny seeds ended up on the bark. The fact that the only seeds that germinated were near the roots of other orchids seemed to indicate that the necessary fungi was living within the roots of these orchids. And, the fungus did not stray very far from the roots. This seems to indicate that, at least in my drier conditions, the fungus depends on the orchid for transportation. The orchid roots help the fungus colonize the tree. This is good for the orchid because… more fungus on the parent’s tree helps increase the density of fungal spore rain falling on surrounding trees… which increases the chances that seeds from the parent will land on the fungus that they need to germinate. You can see some photos here… orchid seeds germinated on tree. So far all the seedlings seem to be Laelia anceps… which is from Mexico. But none of the seedlings are near the roots of the Laelia anceps… which is lower down on the tree. They were all near the roots of orchids in other genera… a couple Dendrobiums from Australia and a Vanda from Asia. These other orchids have been in cultivation here in Southern California for who knows how long so perhaps they simply formed an association with the necessary fungus from the Americas.
Back on the topic of conservation… much of the main thrust seems to be for trying to protect/save/carry as much biodiversity as possible. If it was wrong that people in the past “robbed” us of Syncaris pasadenae… then it’s wrong for us to “rob” people in the future of any species. This implies that when it comes to biodiversity… more is better than less. Except, I haven’t read much about facilitating the creation of biodiversity. I touched on this issue in this blog entry on my other blog… The Inefficient Allocation of Epiphytic Orchids. I think we have an obligation to try and create and fill as many niches as possible.
How old was the orchid already growing on the tree? Could it be that the fungus just hasn’t had time to spread? Did you plant that one also by sprinkling seeds, or did you put an adult specimen that could have its own mycorrhiza already (in nature, it is doubtful that a developed plant just plops down beside a struggling colony to bring them peace and fungi)? Did you sow more seeds later and saw protocorms only near the roots of the previous generation?
I am not a fan of diversifying nature in that I have not read and understood the debate on small patches/large patches biodiversity and so I just am loath to offer an advice here. But as a purely recultivation measure...:-)) To say nothing about those epiphytic beauties who die because their homes are logged for firewood :((
Thank you. That was fun.
The mature orchids on the tree had been growing there for several years. I transplanted them there… none of them were grown from seed. I’m guessing that they already had the fungus in their roots. The fungus had plenty of time to spread… but it doesn’t seem able to venture very far away from the comfort of the orchid roots that it resides in. The bark is very hot, sunny and dry during the day. Not the kind of conditions suitable for most fungus.
I sowed more seeds in subsequent years… but haven’t spotted any new protocorms. Not sure why this is. The winter before I sowed the seeds was particularly wet for Southern California. This might have led to a fungal feeding frenzy? Also, that was the only year that I had sowed Laelia anceps seeds. Laelia anceps is pretty tolerant of drier/hotter conditions.
I took a look at the article that you shared. A lot of the science was over my head… but isn’t it interesting that they didn’t discuss the fact that an orchid seed pod can contain a million seeds? The orchid seed pod can contain so many seeds because the seeds are so small. And the seeds are so small because they don’t contain any nutrients. And the reason that the orchid seed doesn’t have any nutrients… is because it relies on its fungal partner to provide it with the nutrients it needs to germinate. So I’m guessing that the rate of radiation increased whenever this unusual association developed.
Evidently it’s a pretty good strategy to outsource the provision of nutrients to a fungal partner. In economics, this is known as a division of labor. A division of labor helps to increase productivity.
Outsourcing to fungal partners is a pretty ancient adaptation (there has to be a review called something like ‘mycorrhizas in land plants’; if you are not able to find it, I’ll track the link later. Contains an interesting discussion of its evolution and secondary loss in some families, like Cruciferae (Brassicaceae)). BTW, it is interesting to note that Ophioglossaceae (a family of ferns, of which Wiki will tell you better than I) are thought to radiate in approximately the same time—and you will see just how closely their life forms resemble orchids! (Er. People who love orchids tend to praise other plants on the scale of orchid-likeness, so take this with a grain of salt.)
I mostly pointed you to the article because it contains speculations about what drove their adaptations in the beginning; I think that having a rather novel type of mycorrhiza, along with the power of pollinators (and let’s not forget the deceiving species!) might be two other prominent factors, besides sheer seed quantity, to spur them onward.
BTW, here’s a cool paper by Gustafsson et al. timing initial radiation of the family using the molecular clock. Includes speculation on the environmental conditions—their ancestral environment.
Your first mistake is that you studied terrestrials. You can’t learn anything from terrestrials. Or, you can learn a thousand times more from epiphytes. I kid… kinda.
Here’s my original point put differently...
If you think about that passage from the gutter… I think it’s pretty hard not to imagine a dense rain of human sperm. Can you imagine how gross and frightening that would be? I’m surprised nobody’s made a movie with this subject. It would have to be the scariest movie ever. I think most people would prefer to be in a city attacked by Godzilla rather than in a city hit by a major sperm thunderstorm. Especially if it was a city where nobody takes umbrellas with them… like Los Angeles.
Benzing is the premier epiphyte expert. The far denser orchid seed rain, plus epiphytism, largely explains why the orchid family is so successful. The orchid family is really good at hedging its bets. As we all know though… no two individuals in any family are equally successful. If you have another theory why orchids are so successful then I’m all ears.
But that’s a pretty neat and surprising coincidence that somebody on this site has studied orchids! Even if it is only terrestrial orchids. A while back a friend convinced me to go look at one of our terrestrial orchid species in its native habitat a few hours drive away. They were hanging out in a stream in the middle of the desert. I nearly died from boredom checking them out. After spending so much time inspecting the wonderfulness of orchids growing on trees… I had zero capacity to appreciate orchids that were growing on the ground. I kid… kinda. I like plenty of plants… even terrestrials. But, I can only carry so much… so I choose to primarily try and carry epiphytes.
I will have to look up Benzing; my primary interest was in establishing nature reserves, so I could not quite concentrate on taxa. I think you would find terrestrials more interesting if you consider the problem of evolving traits adaptive for both protocorms and adults (rather like beetle larvas/imagoes thing) and the barely studied link between them. Dissemination is but the first step… Availability of symbiotic fungi may be the limiting factor in their spread, and it is actually testable. This is, for me, part of the terrestrials’ attraction: that I can use Science to segregate what influences them, and to what extent. As to ‘successful plant families’, one doesn’t have to look beyond the grasses.
Establishing nature reserves is hugely important… the problem is that the large bulk of valuation primarily takes place outside of the market. The result is that reserves are incorrectly valued. My guess is that if we created a market within the public sector… then reserves would receive a lot more money than they currently do. Here’s my most recent attempt to explain this… Football Fans vs Nature Fans.
I was just giving terrestrials a hard time in my previous comment. I think all nature is fascinating. But especially epiphytes. The relationship between orchids and fungi is very intriguing. A few years back I sprinkled some orchid seeds on my tree. I forgot about them until I noticed these tiny green blobs forming directly on the bark on my tree. Upon closer inspection I realized that they were orchid protocorms. It was a thrilling discovery. What was especially curious was that none of the protocorms were more than 1/2″ away from the orchid root of a mature orchid. Of course I didn’t only place orchid seeds near the roots. I couldn’t possibly control where the tiny seeds ended up on the bark. The fact that the only seeds that germinated were near the roots of other orchids seemed to indicate that the necessary fungi was living within the roots of these orchids. And, the fungus did not stray very far from the roots. This seems to indicate that, at least in my drier conditions, the fungus depends on the orchid for transportation. The orchid roots help the fungus colonize the tree. This is good for the orchid because… more fungus on the parent’s tree helps increase the density of fungal spore rain falling on surrounding trees… which increases the chances that seeds from the parent will land on the fungus that they need to germinate. You can see some photos here… orchid seeds germinated on tree. So far all the seedlings seem to be Laelia anceps… which is from Mexico. But none of the seedlings are near the roots of the Laelia anceps… which is lower down on the tree. They were all near the roots of orchids in other genera… a couple Dendrobiums from Australia and a Vanda from Asia. These other orchids have been in cultivation here in Southern California for who knows how long so perhaps they simply formed an association with the necessary fungus from the Americas.
Back on the topic of conservation… much of the main thrust seems to be for trying to protect/save/carry as much biodiversity as possible. If it was wrong that people in the past “robbed” us of Syncaris pasadenae… then it’s wrong for us to “rob” people in the future of any species. This implies that when it comes to biodiversity… more is better than less. Except, I haven’t read much about facilitating the creation of biodiversity. I touched on this issue in this blog entry on my other blog… The Inefficient Allocation of Epiphytic Orchids. I think we have an obligation to try and create and fill as many niches as possible.
How old was the orchid already growing on the tree? Could it be that the fungus just hasn’t had time to spread? Did you plant that one also by sprinkling seeds, or did you put an adult specimen that could have its own mycorrhiza already (in nature, it is doubtful that a developed plant just plops down beside a struggling colony to bring them peace and fungi)? Did you sow more seeds later and saw protocorms only near the roots of the previous generation?
I am not a fan of diversifying nature in that I have not read and understood the debate on small patches/large patches biodiversity and so I just am loath to offer an advice here. But as a purely recultivation measure...:-)) To say nothing about those epiphytic beauties who die because their homes are logged for firewood :(( Thank you. That was fun.
The mature orchids on the tree had been growing there for several years. I transplanted them there… none of them were grown from seed. I’m guessing that they already had the fungus in their roots. The fungus had plenty of time to spread… but it doesn’t seem able to venture very far away from the comfort of the orchid roots that it resides in. The bark is very hot, sunny and dry during the day. Not the kind of conditions suitable for most fungus.
I sowed more seeds in subsequent years… but haven’t spotted any new protocorms. Not sure why this is. The winter before I sowed the seeds was particularly wet for Southern California. This might have led to a fungal feeding frenzy? Also, that was the only year that I had sowed Laelia anceps seeds. Laelia anceps is pretty tolerant of drier/hotter conditions.
I took a look at the article that you shared. A lot of the science was over my head… but isn’t it interesting that they didn’t discuss the fact that an orchid seed pod can contain a million seeds? The orchid seed pod can contain so many seeds because the seeds are so small. And the seeds are so small because they don’t contain any nutrients. And the reason that the orchid seed doesn’t have any nutrients… is because it relies on its fungal partner to provide it with the nutrients it needs to germinate. So I’m guessing that the rate of radiation increased whenever this unusual association developed.
Evidently it’s a pretty good strategy to outsource the provision of nutrients to a fungal partner. In economics, this is known as a division of labor. A division of labor helps to increase productivity.
I find it fascinating when economics and biology combine.… What Do Coywolves, Mr. Nobody, Plants And Fungi All Have In Common? and Cross Fertilization—Economics and Biology.
Outsourcing to fungal partners is a pretty ancient adaptation (there has to be a review called something like ‘mycorrhizas in land plants’; if you are not able to find it, I’ll track the link later. Contains an interesting discussion of its evolution and secondary loss in some families, like Cruciferae (Brassicaceae)). BTW, it is interesting to note that Ophioglossaceae (a family of ferns, of which Wiki will tell you better than I) are thought to radiate in approximately the same time—and you will see just how closely their life forms resemble orchids! (Er. People who love orchids tend to praise other plants on the scale of orchid-likeness, so take this with a grain of salt.)
I mostly pointed you to the article because it contains speculations about what drove their adaptations in the beginning; I think that having a rather novel type of mycorrhiza, along with the power of pollinators (and let’s not forget the deceiving species!) might be two other prominent factors, besides sheer seed quantity, to spur them onward.
BTW, here’s a cool paper by Gustafsson et al. timing initial radiation of the family using the molecular clock. Includes speculation on the environmental conditions—their ancestral environment.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/10/177