Brief Pollination Assessment of a Critically Endangered Food-Deceptive Orchid () Using a Network Approach.

The translocation of orchids (Orchidaceae) cannot be successful if one is unaware of their effective pollinators and plant-pollinator interactions. is a generalized food-deceptive orchid, which is highly threatened in the Republic of Korea, thus, requiring immediate translocation actions. Although effective pollinators of the orchid are well known in China, little is known about the pollinators in the Republic of Korea and the ecological context in which the orchid can be successfully pollinated. To briefly assess the pollination of prior to translocation, we conducted a one-month survey of general pollination and the community-wide plant-pollinator network properties. Over 21 h of observation, we found that an effective pollinator of the orchid was the sweat bee . The network was significantly specialized and modular, but not significantly nested. (pollinator) and (plant) were determined to be keystone species, based on network metrics. A total of six network modules were identified and the flower colors of the plant species belonging to the module were purple, white, and yellow. After comparing the daily network patterns, we found that pollination of the orchid was accomplished when various flowering plant species bloom, and the nestedness value was high. This study revealed that high plant and pollinator richness could increase the chance that the deceptive orchid would be pollinated. Our study suggests that the network properties of this food-deceptive orchid community could provide useful insight into understanding the ecologically suitable habitat for the translocation of the highly threatened orchid species .