US, Cuba researchers collaborate on ghost orchid study
US, Cuba researchers collaborate on ghost orchid study
The Associated Press
IMMOKALEE, Fla. —
The diplomatic thaw with Cuba has led to a new collaboration with scientists in that country to study the ghost orchid, one of the world's rarest flowers, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
Ernesto Mujica of Cuba's Ministry of Science ECOVIDA Research Center has joined researchers from Illinois College and the University of Florida in the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge to study ghost orchids, the delicate blooms that star in the book "The Orchid Thief" and the movie "Adaptation."
Mujica's participation "would not have been possible without years of persistence and the recent, history-making improvements in U.S. relations with Cuba," said Tom MacKenzie, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's southeast region.
The five-decade-plus Cuba trade embargo and travel restrictions to the island inhibited orchid researchers in both countries from sharing data, though a group of Illinois College researchers and students were able to visit Cuba's Guanahacabibes National Park in 2013.
Read more here: http://www.bnd.com/news/state/illinois/article29336323.html#storylink=cpy
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