Orchid News # 1

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INTERVIEW WITH IRANILDA CALADO SANTANA

Iranilda Calado Santana is Master in Botany by the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro. Nowadays she is responsible for going on doing the studies about Orchidaceae family in the context of the Florule of Vila Dois Rios Project. Here, she talks a little about the present stage of the project.

ON: Iranilda, nowadays you are the responsible for the survey of Orchidaceae family in Vila Dois Rios reserve, going on doing the work started by Fernando. What could you tell us about this project and about the present stage?
Iranilda: Flora of Ilha Grande is a great project of UERJ (University of the state of Rio de Janeiro) which has, since sometimes ago, an outpost in Ilha Grande which is called the CEADS (Center of Environmental Studies and Sustainable Development). Many professors from this University and from another institutions are involved in this project. Inside it, the survey of terrestrial and coastal vegetation from Vila Dois Rios is included. Fernando da Costa Pinheiro, who wrote a thesis and did a monograph about orchids besides having a work developed in this area, took the responsibility for doing the survey of orchids. So, during more or less, two years, he went monthly to Vila Dois Rios Reserve, with the researchers from UERJ in order to collect orchids. He got a very well represented collection.

ON: Is this material completely identified? Most species are terrestrial or epiphyte plants?
Iranilda: Almost all material is identified. We have now 59 identified concerning the genus and the species and five or six, just the genus. Eleven species are terrestrial and the others are epiphyte or rupicolous.
We found a lot of material there. When collecting, we have just be careful with the terrestrial species because they stay, sometimes, unnoticed. In the most humid part, there is a great layers of dead leaves and, if there is a very little thing, you pass over and do not see it. We can just see it when blooming and only if you pay attention, so you can see the small inflorescence arising. There is always something new.

ON: How you became responsible for the project?
Iranilda: I have been working in the Herbarium, since long time ago and also working with orchids. I have already showed my interest in participating of the expeditions but I did not have the opportunity to go. When Fernando should go to Brasilia, in May or June of the last year, there still was some material to be identified.

So, I started without a good idea how was the work. I started by studying the exsiccates, observing, doing some identifications, verifying what was not ready.
Thus I took the project in order to close it, to do a key and a not very detailed description. Sometimes ago, we had the visit of professor Fábio de Barros who help a lot in the identification of some plants that neither Fernando or I could identify: Pleurothallis, Octomeria, Stelis, very complicate genera.

ON: With a lot of species...
Iranilda: Very difficult genera. Fábio gave us a great help and identified many material. He came back but we often keep in contact. We are working with the key, I work a little, send to

him, he corrects, send it back, I do it again.

ON: We noticed an interesting occurrence of Promenaea stapelioides, as Guido Pabst indicated it as occurring in province I, which means, cold and mountainous area.
Iranilda: However, there is register for Promenaea stapelioides in sand bank (restinga) too. I have done a work about Promenaea and could verify it.

ON: Which the characteristic of the vegetation? Atlanta Forest? Primary?

Iranilda: Atlantic Forest in regeneration. In the most part, is Atlantic Forest in an advanced stage of regeneration. The highest part of the island, Jararaca, is a little more preserved. This is a almost primary wood and some passages are very humid. There is a great layer of dead leaves and there are some places where the wood is more open, but the great part is dense wood.

ON: And what about the altitude?
Iranilda. There some places which altitude is high with more than 800m, which brings, by itself, an important variation.

ON: So we can find there, a variety of species tolerant of a wide range of temperatures as it should have colder places?
Iranilda: It is not very cold, even tough in higher altitude.

ON: And about the sand bank (restinga)?
Iranilda: There are small corners of sand bank, such as in Parnaióca beach, for example, where some orchids were found. There is a great variety of habitats. We find orchids on the ground, in a small piece of rock, where you do not expect to find something. There are outcroppings which receive much more luminosity.

ON: Do you think that you are about to conclude the project?
Iranilda: Yes, I believe that we are about to close it. The key is practically read and after finishing, we will published it with the conclusions. Of course, something new always appears, we should have always looking for, always collecting but, I think that in the visited area, there will be a little novelty from now.

Related Links :

1) ht.://www.sibi.ufrj.br
2) ht.://www.sr2.uerj.br/ilhagrande/campus_ilha2.html
3) ht.://www.angra-dos-reis.com/explorando_paraiso/praias_e_ilhas/praia_ilhagrande_dois_rios.htm
4) ht.://www.uerj.br/administracao/reitoria/proposta/interiorizacao.htm
5) ht.://360graus.terra.com.br/ecoturismo/default.asp?did=296&action=hist%C3%B3ria
6) ht.://360graus.terra.com.br/guilhermerocha/Pages/Ilhagrande1.htm
7) ht.://www.codig.org.br/dadosgeo.htm (Comité de Defesa da Ilha Grande)
8) ht.://www.zone.com.br/destinoaventura/index.php?destino=destinos&xdestino=Ilha%20Grande

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