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The value of long-term monitoring,for building up detailed and accurate insights into the behaviour of orchid species,will be discussed,using as an example what may be the largest and longest monitoring project undertaken to date on any species of orchid.The subject of the study-the early spider orchid (Ophrys sphegodes)-has suffered a serious decline in number of plants and the geographical distribution of its remaining populations in England.Its survival in the UK is now a cause for serious conservation concern.This talk will explain some of the reasons for the decline of the species,and indicate appropriate measures that can be applied to attempt to reverse it.It will also demonstrate how long-term data yield insights into the way in which the yearly behaviour of orchids in a given year is influenced both by their behaviour and by climatic conditions in the previous year.Finally,I will illustrate how long-term evidence obtained from this study links the phenology of flowering to climatic conditions,and the way in which this information can be used to assess the potential of herbarium specimens for predicting changes in flowering phenology in response to climate change.If time allows,the potential for climate change to disrupt the relationship between flowering phenology in Ophrys sphegodes and the flight phenology of the bee Andrena nigroaenea,on which the orchid depends for cross-pollination,will be examined,and the likely consequences discussed.