Pollinators of orchids in Bhutan: Understanding orchids Pollination

Orchids and Pollination 

It is estimated that 350,000 species of angiosperms depend on the abiotic pollinators for producing seeds with genetic variations. The pollinators can be generalist that visit many plant species and maintain plant-pollinators network or specific pollinator that depend on single plant species. The studies on pollinators and pollination are considered important in conservation and sustainable maintenance of ecosystem. The pollinators enhancing the plant diversity and the plants helps in the survival of their pollinators (Aizen et al., 2017). 
Therefore it is important to learn about the pollinators for food and also for the survival of the plant species. Orchids are advance flowering plants having unique floral morphology and specialized pollination mechanism (Proctor et al., 1996). Pollen in orchids are called pollinia and they are agglutinized which result in specialized pollination. This type of specialization restrict the pollination to only some specific species of insects which may pollinate a particular orchid. The pollination is considered successful if the pollinia are stuck on the body of the insect and deposited on stigma of same species.

The family Epidendroideae have globose pollinia commonly known as waxy or hard pollinia which is associated with sunken stigma, which  will be the focus of the post. Many orchid species tend to produce secretion such as nectar, trichomes with wax or resin-like compounds, oil or other aromatic compounds to attract its pollinators. Or else they have to depend on deception by using color, shape and fragrance to attract their pollinators. Some deception technique are by mimicry of prey, brood site, mate and food. 
Studies and reviews have been made on the orchids and their pollinators such as in India, China, New Zealand, Australia and Brazil describing wide varieties of pollinators and pollination mechanism. The relationship shared by the orchids and their pollinators are well studied, through visual observation and studying the behaviour of the pollinators. In Bhutan studies on the orchid species have been done but not much is worked on the pollinators. Records on the pollinators such as beetles and bees have been mentioned but no studies have been conducted focusing on the pollination studies. 

The workshop on pollination held in College of Natural Resources (CNR) on 30th April to 1st May 2018 has resolved to encourage the studies on pollination and importance of the pollinators. Therefore pollination studies are yet to find importance in Bhutan (MoAF, 2018). In the series of the pollinators of orchids in Bhutan some of the pollinators orchids will be posted which was based on the field study conducted during my Honors in Sherubtse College. 

References 
Aizen, A. M., Basu, P., Dicks, L., Fonseca, I. V. L., Galetto, L., Garibaldi, A. L., & Vanbergen, A.(2017). Review of pollinators and pollination relevant to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in all ecosystems, beyond their role in agriculture and food production. Convention on Biodiversity. Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
MoAF. (2018, 1 May). Pollination Workshop underway at College of Natural Resources. Retrieved on 13 November, 2018, from www.moaf.gov.bt/pollination-workshop-underway-at-college-of-natural-resources/
Proctor, M., Yeo, P., & Lack, A. (1996). The Natural History in Pollination. London: Harper Collins Publisher.