A question has recently been raised on iNaturalist regarding the possible application of obscured coordinates for Orchidaceae observations in Greece, motivated by concerns about illegal harvesting for salep.
Several studies have documented the conservation impact of tuber harvesting on wild orchid populations in parts of Greece. Examples include:
• Kreziou, A., de Boer, H., & Gravendeel, B. (2016). Harvesting of salep orchids in north-western Greece continues to threaten natural populations. Oryx 50(3): 393–396.
• Charitonidou, M. et al. (2019). Implications of salep collection for the conservation of Dactylorhiza sambucina in Epirus, Greece. Journal of Biological Research-Thessaloniki 26:18.
At the same time, implementing family-level geoprivacy for Orchidaceae in Greece would affect a substantial existing dataset on iNaturalist (currently ~24,000 observations across more than 100 taxa) and may influence the usability of fine-scale occurrence data for ecological and conservation research.
Before any action is considered on the associated taxon flag, it may therefore be beneficial to gather broader community input, particularly from botanists and conservation practitioners familiar with the situation in Greece.
The main question for discussion is therefore:
Should Orchidaceae observations in Greece be obscured at the country level on iNaturalist due to salep harvesting pressure?
The goal of this discussion is simply to collect informed perspectives before any potential geoprivacy changes affecting Greek orchid observations are considered.
For context, the present discussion originates from the following iNaturalist taxon flag proposing geoprivacy measures for Greek orchids due to salep harvesting pressure:
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/809915
The flag includes background information and references compiled by @surfelife, including literature documenting harvesting pressure on terrestrial orchids in parts of Greece (e.g. Kreziou et al. 2016; Charitonidou et al. 2019).
Given the potentially broad implications of a country-level geoprivacy change for Orchidaceae in Greece, it seemed appropriate to open this forum discussion in order to gather wider community input before any action is considered on the flag.
Important note : this request came after a first request concerning the Turkish tubercle orchids that are nationally threatened by harvesting for salep trade at a whole naitonal scale.
This point is well known and well documented and quickly justified a consensus, then the decision has been made to blurr automatically all the species from genera Anacamptis/Dactylorhiza/Neotinea/Ophrys/Orchis/Serapias (subtribe Orchidinae).
https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/807310
For Greece, the problem is very less severe but the severity is noticeable for some regions, it is why this second discussion has been opened.
Taxon-specific discussions about geoprivacy are held on flags rather than the forum. If you feel a flag needs additional community discussion, best practice is to @ mention relevant identifiers, observers, or other experts on the flag. Please continue the discussion there, thanks!
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