Neither host-specific nor random: vascular epiphytes on three tree species in a Panamanian lowland forest |
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Authors: | Laube Stefan Zotz Gerhard |
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Institution: | 1.Fachbereich Biologie, Abt. Pflanzenökologie und Systematik 13/274, D-67653 Kaiserslautern, Germany, 2.Botanisches Institut der Universität Basel, Schönbeinstrasse 6, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland and 3.Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado Postal 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancon, Panama |
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Abstract: | BACKGROUND AND AIMS: A possible role of host tree identity in the structuring of vascular epiphyte communities has attracted scientific attention for decades. Specifically, it has been suggested that each host tree species has a specific subset of the local species pool according to its own set of properties, e.g. physicochemical characteristics of the bark, tree architecture, or leaf phenology patterns. METHODS: A novel, quantitative approach to this question is presented, taking advantage of a complete census of the vascular epiphyte community in 0.4 ha of undisturbed lowland forest in Panama. For three locally common host-tree species (Socratea exorrhiza, Marila laxiflora, Perebea xanthochyma) null models were created of the expected epiphyte assemblages assuming that epiphyte colonization reflected random distribution of epiphytes in the forest. KEY RESULTS: In all three tree species, abundances of the majority of epiphyte species (69-81 %) were indistinguishable from random, while the remaining species were about equally over- or under-represented compared with their occurrence in the entire forest plot. Permutations based on the number of colonized trees (reflecting observed spatial patchiness) yielded similar results. Finally, a third analysis (canonical correspondence analysis) also confirmed host-specific differences in epiphyte assemblages. In spite of pronounced preferences of some epiphytes for particular host trees, no epiphyte species was restricted to a single host. CONCLUSIONS: The epiphytes on a given tree species are not simply a random sample of the local species pool, but there are no indications of host specificity either. |
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Keywords: | Epiphytes community assembly null model host preference colonization Panama Orchidaceae Bromeliaceae Araceae |
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