Kris Lah welcomed everyone and started the meeting with a report on the 2005 Platanthera leucophaea (eastern prairie fringed orchid) season. 

He followed with a preliminary report on the 2006 EPFO season where 19 sites reported 70 blooming plants and 37 non-blooming plants in 2006. 

The 70 blooming plants came from 12 sites.  One site reported vegetative plants only, and 6 sites reported no plants at all. 

Of the 12 sites that reported blooming plants, 8 have submitted seed data and reported a total of 68 capsules on 13 plants. 

The Hildy Prairie volunteers did not take any data this year because they did not see any blooming plants.  Unfortunately, the trend appears to be in a downward spiral perhaps due to drought. 

Cathy Pollack presented preliminary results from pollinator studies conducted in 2004 and 2005 in Illinois and Iowa.  Sphinx eremitus was the only moth species caught both in Illinois and Iowa with EPFO pollinia attached to its proboscis. 

One Manduca sexta was netted while nectaring on an orchid, but had no EPFO pollinia attached.  Statistical analysis will be done on the plant species data in an effort to determine if the host plants for Sphinx eremitus are present at the sites.  

If host plants are not present at the sites, then land managers could increase the host plant species, which may increase the numbers of this moth, which in turn may increase natural pollination of the orchid.  It was mentioned that a Sphinx eremitus was collected in North Dakota with both eastern (EPFO) and western prairie fringed orchid (WPFO) pollinia attached to it. 

It was questioned whether they were truly both EPFO and WPFO pollinia and that one way to find out would be to look at the size of the pollinia.  It may be possible to measure them even though they may now be dry.  Marlin Bowles has a picture of both pollinia with a scale.  Ms. Cathy Pollack will follow up.  The moth in question was not a Sphinx eremitus.  It was a Eumorpha achemon and may be sent to the USFWS office for measurement of the attached pollinia.

Tim Bell presented results from a crossing viability study that he is doing with Larry Zettler and Marlin Bowles.  In 2000, plants from 3 populations were used that were separated by as much as 158 km.  In 2002, the experiment was repeated but populations were separated by as much as 309 km.  In 2004, the experiment was repeated. 

Results show that crossing between populations gives higher seed viability.  The proportion of viable seeds that reach stage three in growth resulting from the crossing of plants between populations is higher than if plants are self-pollinated (selfed).  Selfed plants produce a lower number of viable seeds and lower germination of the ones that are viable.  Preliminary PVA results show that for out crossed plants between populations, lambda = 1.22.  For out crossed plants within populations, lambda = 1.15, and for selfed plants, lambda = 1.03.

Pati Vitt discussed the potential range shift of EPFO under climate change.  Using a migrating climates website, the predicted climate in Illinois in 2095 will look like the current climate of Texas.  To model predicted species distributions with this climate change, she used point locality data of a species and then used minimum/maximum weather data.  There are various types of computer programs to use to generate a predicted distribution of the species such as: 

• DIVA GIS
• http://www.diva-gis.org/
• Maximum Entropy
• http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~schapire/maxent/

A map was shown of the current distribution of big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), then using DIVA, she showed the predicted range of this species in the year 2095.  The concentration area for this species will be more northwest than it currently occupies. 

Using Platanthera leucophaea, the current area of concentration for this species is around the Great Lakes.  Doing the same modeling for EPFO with future climate changes shows the localities of the most concentrated areas moving north and east of their current locations.  In the future, Michigan and Canada may be the best locations for this species considering our climate change.  The take home message is that the occupied ranges will shift out of the Midwest and up towards the northeast for EPFO.

Lawrence Zettler presented a case study within the topic of symbiotic germination as a conservation tool, which was co-authored with Emily Massey.  Zettler described how terrestrial orchids rely on mycorrhizae more than their epiphytic counterparts.  There is symbiotic seed germination. 

There are two Ceratorhiza species, which can induce aerial mycelia and rapid growth of the Platanthera seeds when the seeds are in contact with Ceratorhiza.  Because Ceratorhiza growth within a habitat is sporadic, nylon mesh seed packets can be placed along transects to find which area of a habitat the Ceratorhiza actually grows in. 

If the seeds germinated, then Ceratorhiza was present.  As a management tool, seed baits could be used to pin-point fungus in an area of a prairie before putting the orchid seeds out.  This would ensure knowing exactly where in the landscape the Ceratorhiza fungus is located. 

A question was brought up about using millet seed instead of EPFO seed packets to inoculate sites with Ceratorhiza because the orchid seeds are hard to come by.  Zettler explained that millet can be used to feed Ceratorhiza and then the millet placed somewhere in a prairie where orchid seeds would then be sown. 

Another suggestion is that maybe we should know the habitat characteristics of Ceratorhiza when determining the placement of EPFO seeds instead of using the old method of placing seeds according to associate species. Zettler explained that the prairie ecosystems appear to be the refugia for Ceratorhiza and that its digestive enzymes feed on woody lignin and cellulose, so woody things should be left behind in a prairie.      

Zettler believes that because Platanthera leucophaea preys on fungi to become photosynthetic, they (EPFO) should be viewed as animals because they need fungi to survive.  Entire habitats should be thought of as refugia for orchid prey. 

In an effort to obtain his doctorate degree from St. Louis University, Kurt Piskin will be conducting research on the genetic diversity in the fungal symbionts of Platanthera leucophaea. 

Piskin explained that there are three main types of prairie habitats in Illinois: lake-plain prairies, silt-loam prairies, and sedge meadow.  There were 7 isolates recovered from protocorms at Hildy Prairie.  The research implications include the possibility of finding multiple fungi at a single site, the possibility of finding the same fungus from multiple sites, or differences in soil composition could influence which fungi are present.  Piskin would like to determine the proper habitats for the fungi.  His proposed project includes:

• examining the genetic diversity of EPFO isolates across the Midwest
• root isolates
• store isolates from protocorm, seedlings, and adults
• find protocorm isolates from possible re-introduction sites in Illinois
• isolate DNA from fungal isolates
• amplify internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of nuclear rDNA
• amplify large subunit (LSU) region of mitochondrial rDNA
• determine the identity of mycorrhizal fungi at different prairie sites
• compare genetic variability of fungi between and within populations
• determine relatedness of isolates using phylogenetic analysis
• correlate genetic analysis with morphological characters
• highlight possible habitat preferences for different fungi
• help guide researchers in choosing appropriate isolate for in vitro germination experiments

Piskin hopes to answer the following questions for site managers:

1)      Can we take fungi from one prairie and introduce it into another prairie?

2)      Is a more diverse mycoflora correlated with healthy populations?

He cited an author who believes that Platanthera leucophaea population size alone is not enough to predict population viability.  He suggests using Platanthera leucophaea seeds in packets to fish for orchid fungi.  The suggestion was made to fish for the fungi at sites where we don’t have orchids anymore.  We would need 50-200 seeds per packet and there are 5-8,000 seeds in a fruit.  Piskin would also like to look at Platanthera lacera to determine which species of fungi this plant relies upon.