Materials and methods

Sources of information. Information about orchid e-commerce was collected from October to December 2020 on three online platforms that operate in Mexico, including Compra Compras (www.compracompras.com/mx), Facebook Marketplace (www.facebook.com/marketplace) and Mercado Libre (www.mercadolibre.com.mx). In all cases, we used the keywords “orchid”, “orchids”, “orchids for sale” and “orchids on offer” in their search engines. The search in Compra Compras and Mercado Libre covered all Mexican states, but 80 % of publications are originated in the state of Veracruz. The remaining publications were from Chiapas, Chihuahua, Guerrero, Michoacan, Morelos, Oaxaca, Puebla, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, State of Mexico, and Mexico City. In Facebook Marketplace, the search covered a radius of 500 km around the city of Cordoba (state of Veracruz), covering Mexico City and the states of Guerrero, Hidalgo, Mexico, Morelos, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro, Tlaxcala and Veracruz, as well as parts of the states of Chiapas, Guanajuato, Michoacan, San Luis Potosi, and Tabasco. Compared with the other two platforms, only Chihuahua was excluded from the search on Facebook Marketplace, while it included the possibility of registering publications from three additional states (Hidalgo, Guanajuato, and Queretaro). This allowed us knowing the orchids offered in online markets, what species are part of the national flora, whether their commercial exploitation follows the legal framework for management of native flora and identifying the guidelines to make it possible.

Species, origin of publications and sellers. The information gathered from the three platforms was the species name, origin (native to Mexico, nonnative, hybrid), risk category according to NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010 (^{SEMARNAT 2019}), platform where the orchid is offered, price of the offer and origin (state and city) of the offer. This information made possible knowing (i) the number of species and hybrids, (ii) number of publications offering orchids, (iii) the number of users that publish offers, and (iv) the geographic origin of offers. Sometimes, the same user published offers of the same species on more than one platform and, in these cases, offers were considered separate records and the user and the species were considered a single record. Publication consisted in an image of the offered orchid, which generally corresponded to complete individuals of a single species. Publications offering several species were treated as different registers for each species. We took care of checking for the same offer posted on different platforms to not include it as duplicate record. Scientific names of specimens were corroborated with ^{Soto-Arenas et al. (2007)} for orchids native to Mexico. For nonnative orchids and hybrids, we used the online websites of the American Orchid Society (www.aos.org/orchids/orchids-a-to-z.aspx), Epidendra (https://epidendra.com/) and Orchidweb (www.orchidweb.com/orchids). Species names followed ^{Solano et al. (2020)} for Mexican orchids and for nonnative orchids and hybrids we used the name provided in the platforms mentioned above.

Comparison of e-commerce and traditional markets. The number and prices of orchids traded in the three platforms were compared with those reported in traditional markets from Xalapa, state of Veracruz (^{Flores-Palacios & Valencia-Díaz 2007}), San Pedro and San Pablo Ayutla and Santa María Tlahuitoltepec, state of Oaxaca (^{Martínez-Gómez 2014}), Tlaxiaco, state of Oaxaca (^{Cruz-García et al. 2015}), State of Mexico (^{Emeterio-Lara et al. 2016}), and Comitan and Las Margaritas, state of Chiapas (^{Jiménez-López et al. 2019a}, ^b). We use these studies because they document the number of orchids, prices, sales volumes and sale periods. Additionally, these studies report if orchid specimens were extracted from forests. For comparing the prices of orchids registered in traditional markets (between 2003 and 2016) and those reported in e-commerce (between October and December 2020), we performed the corresponding update. For this, we considered the procedure established in Articles 6 and 17-A of the Mexican Income Tax Law (^{CD 2021}), which recognize variations due to time and inflation to homologate prices. The dates for calculating the price update factor were determined as shown in Table 1.

For traditional markets, a socioeconomic profile of sellers was proposed according with the information provided by ^{Cruz-García et al. (2015)}, ^{Jiménez-López et al. (2019a)}, and ^{Martínez-Gómez (2014)}. Parameters such as gender, age, schooling, knowledge of an original language and main line of work were considered for this profile. In social networks, as people who post orchid offers remain anonymous, it was not possible determining the socioeconomic profile of these sellers. For this reason, the socioeconomic profile of online sellers was inferred using information about the Mexican population that use social networks, which is included in the report on the use of information and communication technologies in Mexico of the Federal Institute of Telecommunications (^{IFT 2019}).

Verification of compliance with environmental regulations in e-commerce. To verify whether e-commerce of Mexican orchids is performed legally, we reviewed (i) the user policies of online platforms and the lists of prohibited products, looking for statements about wild flora or indicating that the sale of wild species is against the law and (ii) user evidence documenting the legal provenance of specimens offered, looking for statements indicating whether they were not extracted from natural habitats and, if they are propagated, whether sellers have authorization for commercial management. The absence of evidence demonstrating compliance with the previous statements was considered an environmental crime. We also revised the Mexican environmental regulations of CPF, LGVS, LGEEPA, LGDFS and NOM-059- SEMARNAT-2010, and a set of guidelines was proposed to develop a conduct code that involves all parties of orchid e-commerce.

Results

Number of orchids present in e-commerce. Among the three platforms, publications offering 164 orchids were documented, form which 82 offer species native to Mexico (50 %), 43 offer nonnative species (26.2 %) and 39 offer hybrids (23.8 %) (Supplementary material, Table S1). Among the native orchids, 15 species are at risk according with NOM-059- SEMARNAT-2010, including Chysis limminghei Linden ex Rchb. f., Clowesia rosea Lindl., Cuitlauzina pendula Lex, Encyclia adenocaula (Lex.) Schltr., Encyclia atrorubens (Rolfe) Schltr., Laelia dawsonii (J. Anderson) Crawshay, Laelia gouldiana Rchb. f., Laelia speciosa (Kunth) Schltr., Lycaste skinneri Bateman, Oncidium incurvum Barker ex. Lindl., Prosthechea citrina (Lex.) W. E. Higgins, Prosthechea karwinskii (Mart.) J. M. H. Shaw, Prosthechea mariae (Ames) W. E. Higgins, Stanhopea tigrina Bateman, and Vanilla planifolia Andrews.

The 164 orchids were offered by 58 sellers, who published 344 offers during the period evaluated. Facebook Marketplace registered the highest number of sellers (30) and the lowest number of species (29). The highest numbers of offers and species were registered in Compra Compras (144 and 119, respectively). Table 2 shows the 20 Mexican orchids with the largest number of offer publications. Among these species, eight are at risk according with NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010, including Chysis limminghei, Clowesia rosea, Cuitlauzina pendula, Encyclia adenocaula, Laelia autumnalis (Lex.) Lindl., Lycaste skinneri, Stanhopea tigrina, and Vanilla planifolia. Six of them are also endemic to Mexico: Clowesia rosea, Encyclia adenocaula, Laelia anceps Lindl., Laelia autumnalis, Stanhopea martiana, and S. tigrina.

Places where orchids are offered in e-commerce. The publications of orchid offerings (344 offers) originated in 26 cities belonging to 12 Mexican states (Table 3). A single user posted an offer without specifying the state or city of origin. Almost 80 % of these publications originated in the state of Veracruz, mainly from the cities of Ixtaczoquitlan, Cordoba, Fortin, and Xalapa de Enriquez. Far behind were the states of Chihuahua (6.39 %), Morelos and Puebla (4.37 %). Over the half (54.38 %) of users posting orchid offers were from the state of Veracruz, followed by Puebla (10.52 %), Morelos (8.77 %) and Mexico City (5.26 %). In Chihuahua, the second state in orchid offers, all offers were made by a single user located in Ciudad Juarez. Fr0m the 164 orchids registered in this study, 70.73 % of them were offered in the state of Veracruz, followed by Morelos and Puebla (7.32 % each), Chihuahua (5.49 %) and Mexico City (2.43 %). The lowest e-commerce activity was recorded in the states of Chiapas (one post, one seller) and Oaxaca (two posts, two sellers), which are the Mexican states with the highest orchid richness.

Verification of environmental regulations in orchid e-commerce. Information that allows verifying whether platforms and users comply with Mexican environmental regulations is shown in Table 4. The terms and policies of use of Facebook (www.facebook.com/policies_center) state that sale postings must be in accordance with the applicable laws in the country and must not constitute, facilitate, or promote illicit activities. In addition, offering postings whose purpose is to buy, sell, exchange, donate, give away or solicit endangered species or parts thereof are restricted. The terms and conditions of use of Mercado Libre (www.mercadolibre.com.mx/ayuda/terminos-y-condiciones-uso-del-sitio_2090) do not allow posting advertisements of prohibited products included in its own list or that are not in compliance with the laws of the country, which covers endangered flora species or whose sale is against the law. This platform specifies that sellers must comply with regulatory obligations and they must have registrations, permits or authorizations required by the applicable regulations for the sale of the items offered, and those who violate this policy will be warned with the suspension of their user account. In Compra Compras, no information about terms, conditions or user policies were found and, therefore, it was not possible to verify if offer postings of orchid complies with the country regulations.

The users of the three platforms do not provide evidence indicating that their offer postings for orchids, especially those native to Mexico, constitute a legal activity that complies with the local environmental regulations. The postings do not indicate if specimens were propagated for sale, or whether they constitute items for commercial management authorized by SEMARNAT, of whether users have orchid collections registered by this authority, or whether they can demonstrate the legal provenance of specimens. This lack of compliance suggests that users perform an activity that would fall into illicit wildlife trafficking.

Comparison between e-commerce and traditional markets. Among the orchid species offered in e-commerce, 43 were also recorded for sale in traditional markets. For the same species, the price was higher in e-commerce platforms than in traditional markets. Table S2 (Supplementary material) shows differences in prices for common orchids in both markets. In e-commerce, the price ranges from $100 MX, as the case of Gongora galeata (Lindl.) Rchb. f. and Laelia anceps Lindl., to $2,500 MX, as the case of Laelia dawsonii. The updated prices of an orchid specimen in traditional markets range from $12 MX for Epidendrum radicans Pav. ex Lindl. to $250 MX for Encyclia rzedowskiana Soto Arenas. Prices for ten species posted in e-commerce platforms were higher than $500 MX, including Coelia bella (Lem.) Rchb. f., Cuitlauzina pendula, Laelia anceps, Laelia dawsonii, Lycaste skinneri, Mormodes maculata (Klotzsch) L.O. Williams, Mormodes nagelii L.O. Williams, Prosthechea karwisnkii, Stanhopea saccata G. Gerlach & Dodson, and Stanhopea tigrina. In traditional markets, prices of these species range from $15.16 MX (P. karwinskii) to $ 192.19 MX (S. tigrina).

The profile of orchid sellers in e-commerce was assumed according to ^{IFT (2019)}. The percentage of the Mexican population using social networks increases up to 99 % in young people (18-34 years old), with at least bachelor's degree of scholarship, living in urban areas, with monthly incomes between $12,883 and $27,307 MX. We assume that most these features are present in users posting orchid offers in e-commerce, as well as orchid hobbyists interested in acquiring specimens through social networks.

Discussion

How many orchids are present in this trade? The number of orchids offered in e-commerce documented here was higher than that recorded in traditional markets (^{Cruz-García et al. 2015}, ^{Emeterio-Lara et al. 2016}, ^{Jiménez-López et al. 2019a}, ^b, ^{Martínez-Gómez 2014}). However, in Xalapa (state of Veracruz), there was a similar number of orchids traded in both market types, with 167 species (^{Flores-Palacios & Valencia-Díaz 2007}). The combined number of orchids traded in the six traditional markets (205) was higher than that recorded for e-commerce (164). Indeed, while in traditional markets all species are native to Mexico, the half of the orchids offered in the e-commerce are nonnative or hybrids. The twenty species more frequently offered in e-commerce are Mexican orchids with ornamental value and almost half of them are endemic to this country or are protected. The traits of orchids offered in e-commerce that customer prefer are: (i) they must be native to Mexico (origin), (ii) they must preferentially be endemic to this country or at risk (rarity condition), and (iii) they must have showy flowers (horticultural potential). Additionally, orchid sellers in e-commerce may obtain additional profits offering nonnative orchids or valuable hybrids.

Where do orchid offers originate for e-commerce in Mexico? The places where posts for orchid sale originated do not always coincide with areas of high diversity for this group in Mexico. Veracruz was the Mexican state that concentrated most orchid e-commerce, with almost 80 % of the publications, more than 50 % of the users and about 70 % of species or hybrids. Veracruz is the third state in terms of orchid richness in Mexico, with almost 430 species (^{Viccón-Esquivel et al. 2021}). However, the states of Chiapas and Oaxaca, which concentrate the highest orchid richness with about 700 species each (^{Solano-Gómez et al. 2016}, ^{Beutelspacher-Baigts & Moreno-Molina 2018}), made a very low contribution to the e-commerce of specimens. In contrast, the state of Chihuahua, which has 56 orchids species only (^{Solano-Gómez et al. 2019}), was the second federative entity in terms of publications and the third one in terms of the number of orchids offered, all of them by a single user. Veracruz is a state with great orchidological tradition in Mexico, especially at its central and mountainous region, which have been visited by naturalists and artists since the beginning of the XIX century to document its orchid richness and promoted the interest for these plants (^{Aguirre-León 2021}). Numerous hobbyists in this region interact with social networks specialized in orchids and, as seen here, many of them make sales posts.

Trading of orchids in Mexican traditional markets shows a different picture. These markets are close to forests where orchids are extracted, where they constitute important components of the native vegetation and some species are highly appreciated by local people. Available studies indicate that these orchid sellers inhabit the ecosystems close to villages where markets are located, and these sellers harvest the specimens (^{Martínez-Gómez 2014}, ^{Cruz-García et al. 2015}, ^{Molina-Luna et al. 2015}, ^{Emeterio-Lara et al. 2016}, ^{Jiménez-López et al. 2019a}, ^b). Market, harvest areas, sellers and buyers are components of orchid trade in traditional markets and they coexist with orchids and forests at a local geographical scale.

Does e-commerce comply with Mexico's environmental regulations? User policies of Facebook and Mercado Libre clearly indicate that posts for wild flora are forbidden when Mexican laws (LGVS, LGEEPA) are not complied. However, both platforms have posts for Mexican native orchids, including species at risk. These postings show that these platforms lack of mechanisms to verify compliance environmental policies when wild flora is traded. Because the user policies of Compra Compras were not available, we are unable to know what items are prohibited or restricted. This platform has operated since 2017 in 33 countries, among which eight are located in Latin America, including Mexico. This implies the possibility of international trade for wild species outside CITES regulation.

In the e-commerce of Mexican native orchids, no user provided information about whether specimens were propagated for sale, if they have authorization of SEMARNAT for commercial management (LGVS Art. 83) or documentation to prove its legal provenance (LGVS Art. 50 and 51). Indeed, the pictures accompanying some posts show specimens that are not rooted on substrate, with damage and blemishes due to herbivory or infections. These traits indicate that specimens were extracted from forests instead of constituting healthy plants propagated and maintained on cultivation. Mexican regulations establish that extractive or nonextractive management of wild flora species requires authorization from SEMARNAT (LGVS Art. 83 and 99, LGEEPA Art. 80 and 87, LGDFS Art. 84 and 85). On the other hand, some users maintain orchids on cultivation and propagate specimens for sale. However, public or private collections where Mexican wildlife is managed outside natural habitats must be registered in SEMARNAT (LGVS Art. 78). In e-commerce, it seems that users extract Mexican wild orchids, keep their collections and post them for sale. Nevertheless, no user provided evidence demonstrating that the harvesting was performed with authorization for extractive management.

The uprising of social networks for wildlife trade currently represents a challenge to achieve the objectives of Mexican environmental regulations, including the protection and sustainable use of wildlife and fighting the illicit trafficking. Native orchids traded on social networks shift the platforms into scenarios for illicit wildlife trafficking, and they can generate environmental crimes and that represent additional risks for its conservation (^{Bennett 2011}, ^{Carpio-Domínguez et al. 2018}). The problem is exacerbated because interactions between sellers and buyers multiply in a short time while they remain anonymous (^{Brenner 2002}, ^{Grabosky 2013}, ^{Lavorgna 2014}, ^{Khabbach et al. 2022}).

Profits and seller profile between e-commerce and traditional markets. An orchid seller can obtain higher profits in e-commerce than in traditional markets. Seller in traditional markets are generally adult women from rural areas with poor scholarship that usually speaks an indigenous language, and their main activities is related to field work (^{Martínez-Gómez 2014}, ^{Cruz-García et al. 2015}, ^{Jiménez-López et al. 2019a}). This type of sellers performs the activity once a week, during the orchid flowering season, with possible profits around $130 to $1,084 MX in the state of Chiapas (^{Jiménez-López et al. 2019b}) and $296 to $2,050 MX in the state of Oaxaca (^{Cruz-García et al. 2015}). In these states, buyers acquire flowering specimens for temporary adornments rather than for cultivating them. In e-commerce, sellers can obtain profits equal or higher than those abovementioned just when selling of a single specimen. Indeed, a posting may remain for weeks or months because buyers search for specific attributes in orchids (native, rarity, showy flowers), regardless of whether specimens have flowers or not, which are integrated into a collection. Orchid trade in traditional markets basically involves two actors, the sellers and the buyers, where sellers harvest orchids in forest and intermediaries are usually absent. E-commerce involves an additional actor, the platforms, that may constitute intermediaries between nurseries, growers and harvesters that provide specimens to customers while they do not participate in the platform.

According to ^{IFT (2019)}, social network users are concentrated in the young Mexican population form urban areas, with bachelor degree as minimum scholarship. The profile of an orchid seller in e-commerce may include these characteristics, having an electronic device with access to social networking applications, investing resources in maintaining orchids under cultivation, having means to make online banking transactions, and sending specimens to any part of the country. In this study, all orchid offer posts originated in urban areas with access to the internet. The most important difference between e-commerce and traditional markets was in the price of specimens of the same species. Possible explanations may be that e-commerce sellers use the monopoly power of the platform to set higher prices, transportation costs are higher and, although customers can virtually visit the seller with minimal transportation costs, the cost of shipping specimens is not evenly distributed among consumers. Additionally, the value of a species in e-commerce is determined by a complex social process that depends on the beliefs of sellers and buyers about the future prices, rather than on market supply and demand. According to some authors (^{Rochet & Tirole 2003}, ^{Jeitschko et al. 2018}, ^{van Heck 2021}), the price difference between the two markets reflects speculative behavior.

Code of conduct for orchid trade in social networks. Among the United Nations member countries, Mexico ranks fourth in terms of the highest rate of organized crime considering the illegal markets operating in the country, the structure and influence of criminal actors, and the capacity of government to disrupt criminal activities through public policies (^{Global Initiative 2022}). Attention to cybercrimes under the control of organized crime has been a priority for Mexican authorities over wildlife trafficking through social networks. However, the collaborative effort that may arise between NGOs, the Federal Attorney Office for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA), Mexico Preventive Cybernetic Police (PCP), hobbyists and academics will help to monitor orchid trade through social networks to verify compliance with environmental regulations. To regulate and monitor wild orchid e-commerce, a set of actions based on previous studies (^{Hinsley et al. 2016a}, ^b, ^{Wong & Liu 2019}) are proposed here: (1) user policies, terms and conditions of online platforms must include a link to the list of Mexican wild plants at risk, the normative annex III of NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010; (2) the platform users must have authorization to commercial exploitation when posting offers for sale, exchange or shipment of Mexican orchids, as well as the documentation that accredits their legal provenance; (3) when the previous points are not observed, the platform should block sale transactions for preventing illicit traffic and environmental crimes; (4) platforms must identify the location of foreigner consumers to block transactions outside CITES regulations that could constitute illegal international wildlife traffic; and (5) for illicit actions, the content of the post offer must constitute evidence for criminal intent. The PCP can obligate to platform owners to identify the offending person (^{SSP 2017}) and submit the charges for legal processes (^{Carpio-Domínguez et al. 2018}).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.17129/botsci.3159

Supplementary material