Effect of host-bark extracts on seed germination in <i>Tillandsia recurvata</i>, an epiphytic bromeliad

Question How do soil fertility, neighbourhood host tree composition and bark characteristics influence community attributes of vascular epiphytes in a central Amazonian forest? Location Adolpho Ducke Forest Reserve, Amazonas, Brazil. Methods The abundances of all species of vascular epiphytes were recorded from 300 host trees with DBH >30 cm. Phorophytes were distributed among 30 sample plots established in lowland, slope and upland habitats, and bark characteristics were classified into five types (rough, peeling, fissured, smooth, rugose). The epiphytic species were also classified into three functional types (true epiphytes, hemi‐epiphytes and nomadic vines) for separate analyses in an effort to highlight differences in ecological constraints in relation to neighbourhood phorophyte composition and edaphic variation. Results More than 21 000 individuals representing 122 species distributed in 66 genera and 20 families of vascular epiphytes were recorded from 300 phorophytes during the course of the study. Multiple regressions demonstrated that neighbourhood phorophyte composition and edaphic variables, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), together explained 65% of the variation in epiphytic species composition. However, edaphic factors were the only significant predictors of epiphytic species richness, accounting for 70% of this variation. Nearly one‐third of the true epiphytes occurred only on phorophytes in soils with high P content. Null models demonstrate that a vast majority of the epiphyte species (76% in positive and 96% in negative associations) failed to exhibit a statistically significant preference for bark texture. Conclusion Neighbourhood phorophyte composition, in concert with N and P availability, accounts for the vast majority of the variation in vascular epiphyte composition and abundance in central Amazonian forests. However, only N and P were shown to be significant predictors of epiphyte richness. Such results suggest that both biotic and abiotic variables influence epiphyte community structure (composition, abundance and richness) at differing intensities. Weak associations between bark type and epiphyte taxa suggest that epiphyte community variation may also be influenced by other unmeasured physical and environmental factors such as phorophyte architecture or microclimatic differences. Nonetheless, these results corroborate with other studies which report significant changes in epiphyte composition and richness as a result of experimentally manipulated ground soil fertility.

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“…; Zotz & Vollrath ; Valencia‐Días et al. ). For example, older phorophytes with thick, rugose outer bark (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The physicochemical characteristics of phorophytes in concert with species interactions have repeatedly been shown to influence vascular epiphyte preferences (Frei & Dodson 1972;Tremblay et al 1998;Zotz & Vollrath 2003;Valencia-D ıas et al 2010). For example, older phorophytes with thick, rugose outer bark (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A tangled web in tropical tree‐tops: effects of edaphic variation, neighbourhood phorophyte composition and bark characteristics on epiphytes in a central Amazonian forest

Boelter

Dambros

Nascimento

et al. 2014

J Vegetation Science

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“…When this epiphyte has been vigorously attached for a long time to the host bark, the damage is deeper in the tissues, affecting the distribution of secondary xylem cells and reducing the number and diameter of vessels. Hosts present chemical effects of aqueous and organic bark extracts on seed germination of epiphytic Tillandsia, which determine differential epiphyte abundances according to the hosts through different allelochemical compounds (Valencia-Díaz et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental evidence of an increased leaf production in Prosopis after removal of epiphytes (Tillandsia)

Soria¹,

Torres²,

Galetto³

2014

Flora - Morphology, Distribution, Functional Ecology of Plants

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“…), and the distribution of vascular epiphytes are demonstrably influenced by such structural, physicochemical, and/or ontogenetic characters of their substrates (Frei & Dodson , Flores‐Palacios & García‐Franco ,b, Valencia‐Dĩas et al . , Woods et al . ), it would be expected that host‐specificity is, in general, a strong environmental filter of epiphyte distributions.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional and Fine Scale Variation of Holoepiphyte Community Structure in Central Amazonian White‐Sand Forests

et al. 2016

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Factors controlling holoepiphyte (plants which start and complete their life cycle on a phorophyte) distributions may be wide and variable. They are determined either by spatial processes, as evidenced by dispersal limitation and/or historical factors, environmental filters, such as microsite variation within phorophytes, and/or biotic interactions. Disentangling the importance of these classes is particularly difficult in tropical forests where phorophyte alpha‐diversity is exceptionally high. We controlled for phorophyte specificity by studying the holoepiphytic communities of an emergent tree Aldina heterophylla (Fabaceae), known for its heavy epiphyte loads and dominance in Amazonian white‐sand habitats, in order to quantify the importance of tree zone and geographic distance on holoepiphytes at fine (100 m2) and regional (2500 km2) scales. At regional scales, tree zone explained nearly two‐thirds of the main compositional gradient, accounting for more than double that of site differences. No spatial effects were observed on holoepiphyte community structure at the fine scale as treelet communities were more dissimilar than by chance alone from their neighboring emergent phorophyte. These results suggest that microsite availability, as opposed to dispersal limitation, is the most important mechanism in structuring holoepiphyte communities of this insular forest type.

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Effect of host-bark extracts on seed germination in Tillandsia recurvata, an epiphytic bromeliad

Cited by 45 publications

References 34 publications

A tangled web in tropical tree‐tops: effects of edaphic variation, neighbourhood phorophyte composition and bark characteristics on epiphytes in a central Amazonian forest

A tangled web in tropical tree‐tops: effects of edaphic variation, neighbourhood phorophyte composition and bark characteristics on epiphytes in a central Amazonian forest

Experimental evidence of an increased leaf production in Prosopis after removal of epiphytes (Tillandsia)

Regional and Fine Scale Variation of Holoepiphyte Community Structure in Central Amazonian White‐Sand Forests

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