Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T08:35:47.424Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Epiphyte assemblages respond to host life-form independently of variation in microclimate in lower montane cloud forest in Panama

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2014

Jennifer C. Sanger  and
James B. Kirkpatrick
Jennifer C. Sanger*
Affiliation:
Discipline of Geography and Spatial Sciences, School of Land and Food, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 78, Hobart, TAS, 7001Australia
James B. Kirkpatrick
Affiliation:
Discipline of Geography and Spatial Sciences, School of Land and Food, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 78, Hobart, TAS, 7001Australia
*
1Corresponding author. Email: jennifer.sanger@utas.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

We investigated the effects of host tree on epiphyte diversity, controlling for microclimate. We measured the light profiles of the lower trunks of 20 individuals, each from three host groups (tree ferns, dicots, palms) occupying the understorey in a tropical montane forest in Panama. The per cent cover and species richness of vascular and non-vascular epiphytes were surveyed on the lower trunks of each understorey host. Light varied considerably between trees (5–21% total transmitted light) but mean light level did not vary between types of host. Light was not significant as a covariate with host in any model. Tree ferns had higher covers than dicots and palms of filmy ferns (15%, 0.02% and 0.2%), other ferns (7%, 0% and 0.5%) and other vascular epiphytes (16%, 3% and 3.4%), and greater species richness of vascular epiphytes (filmy ferns: 3, 0.4 and 0.5; other ferns: 2, 0.2 and 0; other vascular: 7, 2 and 2). Dicots had a higher cover of liverworts (53%) than palms (18%) and tree ferns (27%). Palms and tree ferns were the compositional extremes. We conclude that the differences in species composition and cover between the three host groups relate better to physical differences between hosts than differences in light climate.

Keywords

bryophytescommunity assemblydicotshost preferencelight environmentpalmsPanamatree fernsvascular epiphytes
Type
Short Communication
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 30 , Issue 6 , November 2014 , pp. 625 - 628
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

ANDERSON, M. J. 2001. A new method for non-parametric multivariate analysis of variance. Austral Ecology 26:32–46.Google Scholar
ARRIAGA, L. 1988. Gap dynamics of a tropical cloud forest in northeastern Mexico. Biotropica 20:178–184.Google Scholar
BENZING, D. H. 2004. Vascular epiphytes. Pp. 176–211 in Lowman, M. D. & Rinker, H. B. (eds.). Forest canopies. Elsevier, San Diego.Google Scholar
CALLAWAY, R. M., REINHART, K. O., MOORE, G. W., MOORE, D. J. & PENNINGS, S. C. 2002. Epiphyte host preferences and host traits: mechanisms for species-specific interactions. Oecologia 132:221–230.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
CANHAM, C. D., DENSLOW, J. S., PLATT, W. J., RUNKLE, J. R., SPIES, T. A. & WHITE, P. S. 1990. Light regimes beneath closed canopies and tree-fall gaps in temperate and tropical forests. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 20:620–631.Google Scholar
CATCHPOLE, D. 2004. The ecology of vascular epiphytes on a Ficus L. host (Moraceae) in a Peruvian cloud forest. Ph.D. thesis, School of Geography and Environmental Studies. University of Tasmania, Hobart.Google Scholar
CAVELIER, J., SOLIS, D. & JARAMILLO, M. A. 1996. Fog interception in montane forests across the Central Cordillera of Panamá. Journal of Tropical Ecology 12:357–369.Google Scholar
CONDIT, R., PÉREZ, R. & DAGUERRE, N. 2011. Trees of Panama and Costa Rica. Princeton University Press, Princeton. 496 pp.Google Scholar
FETCHER, N., OBERBAUER, S. & STRAIN, B. 1985. Vegetation effects on microclimate in lowland tropical forest in Costa Rica. International Journal of Biometeorology 29:145–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GRADSTEIN, S. R., VAN REENEN, G. B. A. & GRIFFIN, D. 1989. Species richness and origin of the bryophyte flora of the Colombian Andes. Acta Botanica Neerlandica 38:439–448.Google Scholar
HIETZ, P. 1999. Diversity and conservation of epiphytes in a changing environment. Pure and Applied Chemistry 70:2114–2125.Google Scholar
KELLAR, C., SHORT, M. & MILNE, J. 2006. Epiphytes on ‘Nothofagus cunninghamii’ and ‘Eucalyptus regnans’ in a Victorian cool temperate rainforest. The Victorian Naturalist 123:222–229.Google Scholar
LAUBE, S. & ZOTZ, G. 2006. Neither host-specific nor random: vascular epiphytes on three tree species in a Panamanian lowland forest. Annals of Botany 97:1103–1114.Google Scholar
MEHLTRETER, K., FLORES-PALACIOS, A. & GARCÍA-FRANCO, J. G. 2005. Host preferences of low-trunk vascular epiphytes in a cloud forest of Veracruz, Mexico. Journal of Tropical Ecology 21:651–660.Google Scholar
REICH, P. B. & BORCHERT, R. 1984. Water stress and tree phenology in a tropical dry forest in the lowlands of Costa Rica. Journal of Ecology 72:61–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ROBERTS, N. R., DALTON, P. J. & JORDAN, G. J. 2005. Epiphytic ferns and bryophytes of Tasmanian tree-ferns: a comparison of diversity and composition between two host species. Austral Ecology 30:146–154.Google Scholar
SILVA, I. A., FERREIRA, A. W. C., LIMA, M. I. S. & SOARES, J. J. 2010. Networks of epiphytic orchids and host trees in Brazilian gallery forests. Journal of Tropical Ecology 26:127–137.Google Scholar
TER STEEGE, H. & CORNELISSEN, J. H. C. 1989. Distribution and ecology of vascular epiphytes in lowland rain forest of Guyana. Biotropica 21:331–339.Google Scholar
STUDLAR, S. M. 1982. Host specificity of epiphytic bryophytes near Mountain Lake, Virginia. The Bryologist 85:37–50.Google Scholar
WILLIAMS-LINERA, G. 1997. Phenology of deciduous and broadleaved-evergreen tree species in a Mexican tropical lower montane forest. Global Ecology and Biogeography Letters 6:115–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WILLIAMS-LINERA, G. 2002. Tree species richness complementarity, disturbance and fragmentation in a Mexican tropical montane cloud forest. Biodiversity and Conservation 11:1825–1843.Google Scholar
WYSE, S. V. & BURNS, B. R. 2011. Do host bark traits influence trunk epiphyte communities? New Zealand Journal of Ecology 35:296–301.Google Scholar
ZIMMERMAN, J. K. & OLMSTED, I. C. 1992. Host tree utilization by vascular epiphytes in a seasonally inundated forest (Tintal) in Mexico. Biotropica 24:402–407.Google Scholar
ZOTZ, G. & BÜCHE, M. 2000. The epiphytic filmy ferns of a tropical lowland forest – species occurrence and habitat preferences. Ecotropica 6:203–206.Google Scholar
ZOTZ, G. & HIETZ, P. 2001. The physiological ecology of vascular epiphytes: current knowledge, open questions. Journal of Experimental Botany 52:2067–2078.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed