Long‐term changes of the vascular epiphyte assemblage on the palm <i>Socratea exorrhiza</i> in a lowland forest in Panama

Laube, Stefan; Zotz, Gerhard

doi:10.1111/j.1654-1103.2006.tb02450.x

Cited by 14 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Comparisons of the epiphyte vegetation on individual host trees, as well as in the entirety of host trees show that the temporal changes of the epiphyte vegetation on a single tree were low, and the epiphyte vegetation on Annona glabra as a whole became more homogeneous. A different pattern was found by Laube & Zotz (2006) in another lowland forest for the epiphyte vegetation on the palm Socratea exorrhiza. They showed that the similarity of an epiphyte vegetation on a single tree decreased considerably in time while the vegetation on all studied host trees in the area became more similar.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

“…Such a unimodal pattern may be explained by a non-equilibrium metapopulation status of the epiphyte species on Annona glabra: new colonizations of available empty patches exceed extinction events (Table 4) which is caused by the ongoing colonization of habitat patches by epiphytes due to their, in epiphyte terms, quite recent establishment of less than 80 years. Another study by Laube & Zotz (2006) already showed that a time span of this magnitude does not allow epiphytes to colonize a patch completely. In that study the average available time for epiphytes to colonize a palm tree before it died was 60 years, which turned out to be too short to colonize a patch completely given the slow growth of epiphytes (Schmidt & Zotz 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A metapopulation approach to the analysis of long‐term changes in the epiphyte vegetation on the host tree Annona glabra

Laube

Zotz

2007

J Vegetation Science

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Results: The number of epiphyte individuals increased from ca. 15 000 to ca. 23 700 individuals during the census interval while the species composition on Annona glabra as a whole was rather stable. There was a strong positive relationship between occurrence in patches and local abundance of the species, and between species richness and host tree stand size. The dynamics of local populations of a given species were uncorrelated to each other; small and large local populations of most species had the same probability to go extinct. The frequency distribution of species on all host trees was not bimodal, but on a subset of heavily colonized host tree stands it was. Numbers of species and individuals were correlated with tree size which was not due to a correlation of tree size and tree age. Conclusions: As far as the most abundant epiphyte species with metapopulation structures are concerned, these species belong to diverse families, e.g. Orchidaceae, Bromeliaceae and Polypodiaceae. Even ca. 80 years after the initial establishment of the host tree species in the study area epiphytes are still in the stage of initial colonization and have not reached a steady state as indicated by the strong increase in individuals and the ongoing colonization of empty trees.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A metapopulation approach to the analysis of long‐term changes in the epiphyte vegetation on the host tree Annona glabra

Laube

Zotz

2007

J Vegetation Science

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“…Studies of epiphyte species richness in relation to tree size usually indicate a strong positive relationship (Flores-Palacios and García-Franco 2006;Laube and Zotz 2006;Zotz and Schultz 2008). However, there are also a few observations that suggest no positive relationship (Boelter et al 2011) or even saturation of species richness with tree size (Hietz and Hietz-Seifert 1995).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Species richness patterns of epiphytes are closely related to the morphological, architectural, and phenological characteristics of the respective host tree (Wagner et al 2015). Host tree size, in particular, has been identified as an important factor influencing species richness and individual abundances of the epiphyte community: Species richness usually increases strongly with host tree size (Flores-Palacios and García-Franco 2006;Laube and Zotz 2006). As the tree ages, its characteristics change, which affects the development of the epiphyte community (Laube and Zotz 2007;Taylor and Burns 2015;Woods et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling community assembly on growing habitat “islands”: a case study on trees and their vascular epiphyte communities

et al. 2019

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The number of available sites for establishment is a key determinant of species richness on habitat islands. While most theoretical studies assume habitat size or capacity to be constant, many natural habitats are characterized by dynamic growth in capacity over ecological timescales. A case in point is provided by trees that serve as habitat for vascular and non-vascular epiphytes. Here, we develop a modeling framework, based on neutral theory, to address the effects of habitat growth on community development, i.e., species richness and abundance. The model is parameterized to the situation of vascular epiphyte communities in tropical lowland forests and includes stochastic reproduction, death, and immigration events from a larger metacommunity. Using numerical simulations, we explore the proportion of growing sites occupied by individuals, the number of empty unoccupied sites, as well as changes in species abundances, species richness, colonization and extinction rates, and the dependence on the abundance in the metacommunity throughout the growth of the habitat. Our analysis suggests two characteristic phases of community development in a growing habitat: (i) an initial phase, characterized by a rapid buildup of empty sites, a slow increase in species abundance, and a fast increase in species richness, and (ii) a second phase, in which the number of empty sites reaches an equilibrium, species richness is accumulating very slowly, while the number of individuals increases unabatedly with habitat capacity.

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“…Moreover, in typical plot-based sampling designs, most of the observed epiphyte and tree species are rare (e.g. Laube & Zotz, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Including dynamics in the equation: Tree growth rates and host specificity of vascular epiphytes

Wagner

Zotz

2019

Journal of Ecology

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The forest canopy is home to a rich biota. One salient feature are the dynamics of the habitat‐building trees, which are growing and eventually vanishing. Tree species strongly differ in growth rates, final size and longevity. Nevertheless, these inherent dynamics have been a blind spot in studies on host specificity of vascular epiphytes (vascular plants dwelling on trees without parasitizing them)—not least because tree growth rates and longevity are usually unknown in highly diverse tropical forests. The present study aims at tackling this blind spot. We compared epiphyte abundances (>23,000 individuals) found on 285 individuals of four focal tree species in a lowland moist forest in Panama. Data on repeated dbh censuses from a permanent tree plot provided the unique opportunity to estimate the age of our sampled trees. We compared the relative importance of tree longevity for host biases with that of other host tree characteristics, namely microclimatic conditions and bark acidity, rugosity and stability. The studied tree species differ in host quality and epiphyte species partly differ in host preferences. The conclusions concerning relative host tree quality depend hugely on whether or not different tree growth rates are considered. Comparing these conclusions allows important insights into the role of tree longevity in shaping epiphyte communities. Relating tree trait differences to the observed distributions of epiphytes among the focal tree species shows how the simultaneous action of various tree characteristics causes host biases. Synthesis. This study highlights the substantial but, up to now, hidden role of different tree growth rates for host tree specificity of vascular epiphytes. Future investigations need to consider this possibly confounding factor adequately to avoid spurious conclusions.

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Long‐term changes of the vascular epiphyte assemblage on the palm Socratea exorrhiza in a lowland forest in Panama

Cited by 14 publications

References 26 publications

A metapopulation approach to the analysis of long‐term changes in the epiphyte vegetation on the host tree Annona glabra

A metapopulation approach to the analysis of long‐term changes in the epiphyte vegetation on the host tree Annona glabra

Modeling community assembly on growing habitat “islands”: a case study on trees and their vascular epiphyte communities

Including dynamics in the equation: Tree growth rates and host specificity of vascular epiphytes

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