Plant dynamics and Climate Change in the Andes




Top Ten Botanic Gifts from the Andes

Newton Fund Workshop on Plant Dynamics and Climate Change in the Andes, Mendoza 2018

4#Orchids

Data

  • Orchids
  • Text by: O. Perez-Escobar.
  • Photo: O. Perez-Escobar

Description

Orchids are a prominent component of the Andean flora for they virtually occur across the whole elevational range of the cordillera below the snow-line. They also account for 20% of total plant Andean species diversity and often they are counted amongst the most speciose lineages in key ecosystems of the mountain such as dry and cloud forests. More importantly, the Andes is the premier centre of orchid diversity and evolutionary hotspot worldwide because it promoted and hosted multiple rapid diversifications during the Miocene that gave rise to the two largest orchid clades in the tropics: the miniature babyboot (Pleurothallidinae, ~5000 species) and the boat orchids.(Cymbidieae, ~3000 species).

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