The western prairie fringed orchid (Platanthera praeclara) may once have been widespread throughout the Midwest, but is now primarily found in small isolated prairies. Their populations (as estimated by the number of flowering individuals) experience large fluctuations from year to year in response to precipitation. Using methods developed by the Natural Heritage and Non-Game Research Program at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, we have been monitoring 2 western prairie fringed orchid populations in Iowa. These long-term data, along with those collected by citizen scientist in Minnesota, will allow us to determine the orchid’s vulnerability to changes in climate and prairie management.
Our data have contributed to the prediction model for western prairie fringed orchid emergence and flowering at phenology.naturecast.org
Publications (Please contact me if you would like a reprint)
Datasets
Biederman LA, Weldon S. Dataset associated with “Biederman et al. 2020”
Funding Organizations:
Iowa Department of Natural Resources ; Minnesota Department of Natural Resources