Road construction in Kerala threatened thousands of rare orchids growing on trees

Many development projects across the world have, over the years, put the habitats of plants and wildlife at risk. But when researchers in Kerala were faced with the possibility of thousands of orchids losing the trees they called home to road-widening projects, they began asking a rather unusual question: could these plants be relocated to a new habitat?

Would they continue to grow, flower and reproduce even after being moved somewhere new? In an effort to give the orchids another chance at survival, scientists set out to find them a new home, with plenty of questions about whether they would adapt to their unfamiliar surroundings.A study published in the Plants journal on October 15, 2026, looked at whether thousands of orchid plants could be saved from destruction through a rescue relocation effort.

The research was carried out by Mithun Venugopal, Pradeep N.