Conservation of biodiversity in managed landscapes is of critical importance due to the rapid degradation and loss of primary habitat in the tropics. Soppinabetta forests are farmer-managed, fragmented evergreen forests of the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot in India. We hypothesized that these forests have immense importance in conservation of epiphytic orchid flora, although management intensity may differentially affect the diversity. Orchid diversity of
the Soppinabetta forests of two degrees of management (sustained Soppinabetta, N = 11; degraded Soppinabetta,
N = 4) has been compared with protected reserve forest fragments (N = 6). A total of 3537 orchid individuals of 41 species were recorded from 1.05 ha area; 39 species were found in the Soppinabetta forests. Orchid species richness was highest in sustained Soppinabetta forests (26.2) compared to degraded Soppinabetta (23) and reserve forest fragments (20.5).