Understanding how species distributions are being shaped by current rises in atmospheric temperature is of immediate conservation importance. Orchids are a globally threatened plant family, with many species having narrow ranges and low abundances that heighten extinction risk due to rising atmospheric temperature. Using 26 rare and common Caladenia orchid species in Western Australia, we first performed a conservation assessm...

Orchidaceae, one of the largest plant families, have been predicted in several analyses to be under a higher level of threat than angiosperms as a whole. Despite this, compared to many other major groups of animals and plants, orchids are under-represented on the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Since 2000, concerted efforts have led to the number of orchids on the Global Red List incr...

Characterizing genetic diversity and structure of populations is essential for the effective conservation of threatened species. Orchis patens sensu lato is a narrowly distributed tetraploid species with a disjunct distribution (i.e., Northern Italy, North Africa and the Canary Islands), which is facing a severe decline. In this study, we evaluated levels of genetic diversity and population structuring using 12 new nuclear mic...

Aim We investigated the phylogeographical history of a clonal‐sexual orchid, to test the hypothesis that current patterns of genetic diversity and differentiation retain the traces of climatic fluctuations and of the species reproductive system. Location Europe, Siberia and Russian Far East. Taxon Cypripedium calceolus L. (Orchidaceae). Methods Samples (>900, from 56 locations) were genotyped at 11 nuclear microsatellite loci...

The hypothesis of gene flow between species with large differences in chromosome numbers has rarely been tested in the wild, mainly because species of different ploidy are commonly assumed to be reproductively isolated from each other because of instantaneous and strong postzygotic barriers. In this study, a broad‐scale survey of molecular variation was carried out between two orchid species with different ploidy levels: Epide...

Aim This study aims to link demographic traits and post‐glacial recolonization processes with genetic traits in Himantoglossum hircinum (L.) Spreng (Orchidaceae), and to test the implications of the central–marginal concept (CMC) in Europe. Location Twenty sites covering the entire European distribution range of this species. Methods We employed amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers and performed a plastid micr...

Molecular ecologists increasingly require ‘universal’ genetic markers that can easily be transferred between species. The distribution of cross‐species transferability of nuclear microsatellite loci is highly uneven across taxa, being greater in animals and highly variable in flowering plants. The potential for successful cross‐species transfer appears highest in species with long generation times, mixed or outcrossing breedin...

Mean temperature of establishment years for warm‐ and cold‐year subpopulations of a naturally occurring stand of Betula pendula (birch) shows a difference equivalent to that between current temperatures and temperatures projected for 35–55 years hence, given ‘business as usual.’ The existence of ‘pre‐adapted’ individuals in standing tree populations would reduce temperature‐based advantages for invading species and, if general...