Wageningen University and Research
This study marks the conclusion of a long-running project that monitored experimental transplantations of the green-winged orchid (Anacamptis morio) to two new locations in Zeeland. Over a 12-year period, individual plants of this food-deceptive species were recorded within permanent quadrants. This resulted in a substantial dataset that allowed us to evaluate the overall “success” of the transplantation. Annual vegetation surveys were conducted alongside the monitoring. In addition, this year, we collected leaf material in the field to perform genetic analyses on both the donor population and the transplanted populations, supplemented with three reference populations from Texel, Hompelvoet, and Zuid-Limburg. The findings suggest promising prospects for the long-term persistence of the transplanted populations. The species’ limited sensitivity to inbreeding, positive population development and good reproductive success in recipient sites, indicate good population performance. Genetic results revealed only very minor bottlenecks post-transplantation. Together, these outcomes highlight that targeted re-introductions, when ecologically informed and followed by proper monitoring can prove to be an effective tool for (meta)population restoration.
