Quantifying an online wildlife trade using a web crawler

Legally protected plants are illegally traded through online sales platforms and orchids are a significant component of this wildlife trade. This study focused on salep, a compound product made from wild collected orchid tubers from several genera-including Anacamptis, Dactylorhiza, Himantoglossum, Ophrys, Orchis, Serapias-whose harvest endangers some of the species used, despite their collection and sale being restricted by national and international legislation. Using a custom designed web crawler in combination with DNA barcoding of a subset of products over 18 months 1942 items of salep were detected as sold at a total value of US$ 37,775, estimated to be equivalent to 90,000 to 180,000 wild orchids being destructively harvested. Wild harvested tubers traded at a value of $0.21 and equivalent cultivated orchids have a market price of $16-28; cultivation is currently no viable alternative to wild harvesting. Using a web crawler on open trade sites contributes to knowledge on illegal wildlife trade, which can be used to address illegal plant trade at the national and international level.