TY - JOUR
T1 - Synthesis of wild orchid trade and demography provides new insight on conservation strategies
AU - Ticktin, Tamara
AU - Mondragón, Demetria
AU - Lopez-Toledo, Leonel
AU - Dutra-Elliott, Daniela
AU - Aguirre-León, Ernesto
AU - Hernández-Apolinar, Mariana
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors. Conservation Letters published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
PY - 2020/3/1
Y1 - 2020/3/1
N2 - Illegal wildlife trade represents a global conservation priority, but the booming illegal trade in wild plants remains understudied. We use the Mexican orchid trade to illustrate an interdisciplinary approach to provide novel insight on conservation strategies and policies. We synthesize studies of orchid markets, national orchid confiscation records, CITES registers, and global population dynamics studies to document trade patterns and potential ecological impacts. We found 333 wild-harvested orchid taxa illegally traded in domestic markets. Clear patterns emerged: 90% were epiphytic and <4% traded in high volumes, all of which had pseudobulbs and bloomed during cultural festivals. Most sales were pseudobulbs, not whole plants. Review of demographic studies indicates whole-plant harvest is unviable but simulations show potential for sustainable harvest of pseudobulbs. The combination of social and ecological findings suggests a novel multipronged approach to improve conservation, including selective monitoring, enforcement focused on whole-plant harvest, and community-based wild harvest of pseudobulbs.
AB - Illegal wildlife trade represents a global conservation priority, but the booming illegal trade in wild plants remains understudied. We use the Mexican orchid trade to illustrate an interdisciplinary approach to provide novel insight on conservation strategies and policies. We synthesize studies of orchid markets, national orchid confiscation records, CITES registers, and global population dynamics studies to document trade patterns and potential ecological impacts. We found 333 wild-harvested orchid taxa illegally traded in domestic markets. Clear patterns emerged: 90% were epiphytic and <4% traded in high volumes, all of which had pseudobulbs and bloomed during cultural festivals. Most sales were pseudobulbs, not whole plants. Review of demographic studies indicates whole-plant harvest is unviable but simulations show potential for sustainable harvest of pseudobulbs. The combination of social and ecological findings suggests a novel multipronged approach to improve conservation, including selective monitoring, enforcement focused on whole-plant harvest, and community-based wild harvest of pseudobulbs.
KW - Mexico
KW - conservation policy
KW - illegal wildlife trade
KW - matrix models
KW - orchids
KW - social–ecological systems
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85077864540&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/conl.12697
DO - 10.1111/conl.12697
M3 - Carta
SN - 1755-263X
VL - 13
JO - Conservation Letters
JF - Conservation Letters
IS - 2
M1 - e12697
ER -