Vanilla, an expensive but popular spice used in many industries, faces problems related to its supply. Some of these problems are due to the fact that vanilla cultivation is based on clonal material of a single species (Vanilla planifolia) and is dominated by just a few countries located outside the native growing areas of aromatic vanilla species, which is the neotropics. Despite the economic importance of this crop, relatively little attention has been paid to its wild relatives, in particular with respect to their biology, ecology, and potential use. We hypothesized that species distribution models (SDMs) can identify suitable areas for both the conservation and cultivation of vanilla crop wild relatives (CWRs), following a joint land sparing/land sharing (SPASHA) approach, thus offering alternative sourcing areas and production methods. This is the first study that explored the use of ensemble SDMs to provide applicable land use maps related to the conservation and sustainable cultivation of wild vanilla species in Costa Rica, contributing to a solution for the problems related to current vanilla production systems. We focused on four aromatic vanilla CWRs, native to Costa Rica, to make land use policy recommendations for this country, and more specifically for the biological corridor Osa and its surroundings within our study region Area de Conservaci on Osa (ACOSA). The resulting distribution maps, with a mean AUC of 0.89, reflected their current potential distribution (ranging from unsuitable to suitable) in Costa Rica. Combining them with recent land use and conservation area maps of our study region, we defined (1) areas for vanilla conservation and (2) areas for sustainable vanilla cultivation within agroforestry systems. These land use recommendations can now be integrated within the National Bio-Corridor Program (PNCB) that aims at making biological corridors more productive by proposing alternative income generation for local communities living within these areas. Our approach can be applied to identify priority areas for implementing the SPASHA approach on other vanilla CWRs and in more regions across its native growing ranges, given the availability of land use maps and enough occurrence records to build accurate SDMs.

Natural pollination of Vanilla species remains poorly understood. Our research aimed at better understanding the pollinator attraction mechanism of the Neotropical species Vanilla pompona. Based on our results, we hypothesize that the identified pollinator Eulaema cingulata is attracted via a dual mechanism combining floral fragrance rewards and food deception.

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Natural pollination of species belonging to the pantropical orchid genus Vanilla remains poorly understood. Based on sporadic records, euglossine bees have been observed visiting flowers of Neotropical Vanilla species. Our research aimed at better understanding the pollinator attraction mechanism of the Neotropical species Vanilla pompona, a crop wild relative with valuable traits for vanilla crop improvement programs. Using video footage, we identified floral visitors and examined their behavior. The flowers of V. pompona attracted Eulaema cingulata males, which distinctively displayed two behaviors: floral scent collection and nectar search; with the latter leading to pollen removal. Morphological measurements of floral and visitor traits showed that other Eulaema species may also act as potential pollinators. Additionally, we recorded natural fruit set in three populations and over a period of two years, tested for nectar presence and analyzed floral fragrances through gas chromatography - mass spectrometry. We observed a low natural fruit set (2.42%) and did not detect nectar. Twenty floral volatile compounds were identified, with the dominant compound trans-carvone oxide previously found to attract Eulaema cingulata males. We hypothesize a dual attraction of Eulaema cingulata males to V. pompona flowers, based on floral fragrance reward as the primary long-distance attraction, and food deception for successful pollen removal. Further research confirming this hypothesis is recommended to develop appropriate conservation policies for Vanilla crop wild relatives, which are the primary reserves of this crops genetic variation.

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