Publication details
Monitoring vstavače trojzubého (Orchis tridentata) v Národní přírodní rezervaci Strabišov-Oulehla v období 1997–2010
| Title in English | Monitoring of the Three-toothed orchid (Orchis tridentata) in National Nature Reserve Strabišov-Oulehla over the period 1997–2010 |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2011 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Příroda |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Botany |
| Keywords | morphometrics; Orchidaceae; Neotinea tridentata; population biology; site management; species conservation |
| Description | Orchis tridentata (syn. Neotinea tridentata) is a tuberous terrestrial orchid with the centre of its distribution in the Mediterranean region. In the Czech Republic, where seven recent localities occur, this species is treated as critically endangered. The most important site where more than 90% of the entire Czech population of this species can be found is National Nature Reserve Strabišov-Oulehla. Since the end of 80’s of 20th century, the annual management consists of elimination of woody plants and mosaic mowing after capsules ripening, followed by biomass removal. The local population of O. tridentata has been monitored since 1997 in order to get a set of basic morphometric data, to quantify interseasonal variation of these plant characteristics and to evaluate the efficiency of the management on the stability and prosperity of evaluated O. tridentata population. We observed a marked increase in the number of plants, reaching its maximum in 2002 (695 plants). In the period 2003–2009, the lowest number of plants was 463 and the mean was 552 plants. There were high interseasonal fluctuations in the number of fertile plants (coefficient of variation calculated from annual means CV = 51.3%) and in the percentage of flowers producing capsules (CV = 57.4%), mainly due to low values observed in 2000, 2003, and 2007. These were caused by dry weather during spring months, eventually combined with spring frosts in 2007, which damaged the orchids substantially. The weather also influenced the plant height and diameter of leaf rosettes, whereas the number of flowers was not affected and its interseasonal variation was low (CV = 7.5%). Based on our data, we conclude that the condition of this O. tridentata population is very good and we recommend retaining present management practices. We suggest that the future monitoring focuses on the number of flowering plants and the proportion of flowers producing capsules in individual plants. |