Recently Lou Jost, co-founder of EcoMinga, and visiting scientists from the Orchid Conservation Alliance journeyed to the Dracula Orchid Reserve in northwestern Ecuador. Braving cold and wet conditions, the scientists managed to identify and photograph a variety of spectacularly beautiful and highly endangered orchid species.

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The visit comes less than a year since Rainforest Trust helped establish the 652-acre Dracula Orchid Reserve. Protecting vital habitat for a number of highly endemic Dracula and Lepanthes orchid species, the new reserve is a botanical wonderland of rare and endangered orchids – many found nowhere else.

Since many orchids have no nectar, they effectively need to ‘seduce’ pollinators in strange and ingenious ways.

Some orchids have evolved to puff out pheromones that smell like female insects, thereby attracting males that later pollinate them. Lepanthes, found in the Dracula Reserve, is an example of this phenomena. Many orchids in the Dracula genus are pollinated by fungus gnats, attracted by a blob of tissue that looks and smells like the fungus on which they normally lay their eggs.

Amongst orchid genera, few are as specialized and unusual as Dracula orchids. Their center of diversity is the wet Chocó cloud forests of Ecuador and Colombia.  These orchids are so localized that the majority of species are found at three or fewer sites. Because these orchids are so restricted in their habitat requirements, they are inherently susceptible to extinction by habitat loss. It is estimated that 14 Dracula species have already gone extinct due to deforestation events, which is equivalent to one species becoming extinct every three years due to forest conversion.

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Despite being one of the most biodiverse areas in the world, Ecuador’s Chocó region is also one of the most threatened, with less than 10% of the original forest remaining intact. In addition to being a biodiversity hotspot for orchids and endangered wildlife like Spectacled Bears, these lush cloud forests provide most of the water resources for towns and cities along the Pacific coast.

“Rainforest Trust has been a key partner for EcoMinga,” said Lou Jost. “They are quick to respond to strategic conservation opportunities in the region, and their matching funds program has been a wonderful incentive for other groups to join the effort to build the Dracula Reserve.”

Learn more about the Dracula Orchid Reserve, and Fundacion EcoMinga’s ongoing efforts to protect the Chocó rainforest.