Ram's Head Orchids (RHO) were named a species of concern in the early 2000 due to its rarity and restricted habitat (Ryan 2013 pp. e15).
Prescribed fire is a tactic that is often used to increase biological diversity of an ecosystem.
By determining the possible benefits of prescribed fire on the RHO orchid species, conservation agencies can use fire to improve the habitat for this species and work towards taking it off the species of concern list.
Some of the current common threats to RHO include "poaching and loss of habitat from human expansion” (Miller 2022).
Many conservation techniques have been used to help protect the general species of Orchids, but certain tactics won't work for all species.
Prescribed fire can help to “reduce the vegetative fuel load” and improve biodiversity within ecosystems overrun by thick understory vegetation (Marcos 2024).
The Theory of Conservation Biology focuses on putting the needs of the natural environment at the forefront of the problem.
The most logical way to solve my research question is to figure out what helps this species thrive and what prevents it from doing so and propose a management plan based on that.
My research question is to assess how prescribed fire can affect the habitat for Rams Head Orchid in Northern Michigan, and to use this information to create possible management plans for conservation agencies to use to take RHOs off the species of concern list.
The importance of answering this question is that by determining how agencies can protect the RHO species, we can take the species off of the species of concern list and use our findings and apply it to the conservation of other orchid or general flower species.
Marcos, Francos., Xavier Úbeda. (2024) Prescribed fire management. Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health, Volume 21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coesh.2021.100250.
Ryan, Kevin C., Knapp, Eric E., Varner, Morgan J (2013) Prescribed Fire in North American forests and woodlands: history, current practice, and challenges. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Volume 11, Issue S1, e15-e24.