Volunteer Park Conservatory cycads, and orchids, visitors will find banana ("Musa"), Bird of Paradise ("Strelitzia"), "Anthurium" and ginger (Zingiberaceae) in this house. The conservatory’s orchid collection, which began as a gift from Mrs. Anna H. Clise in 1921, is also found in the Palm House. Orchids are a large and diverse flowering plant family composed of more than 20,000 species. The conservatory’s collection includes representatives of the largest genera – "Bulbophyllum", "Epidendrum", and "Dendrobium" – as well as commonly cultivated genera such as "Cattleya" and "Phalaenopsis". Transporting endangered orchids is prohibited by the Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) and many
Tilapia as exotic species and utilize the Salton Sea as an important destination for resting and feeding along the Pacific flyway. High salinity concentrations, algal blooms, agricultural runoff, hypoxia, wind events and temperature variability all contribute to fish die-offs in the Salton Sea. The high concentrations of tilapia in the Salton Sea (relative to other fish species) signify that tilapia often constitute the largest percentage of dead fishes during periods of excessive environmental stress. During fish kills, tilapia often wash ashore en masse. Tilapia as exotic species Throughout much of the tropics, tilapiine cichlids native to Africa and the Levant have been widely introduced