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57 - Potential effects of global climate change on epiphytes in a tropical montane cloud forest: an experimental study from Monteverde, Costa Rica

from Part VI - Effects of climate variability and climate change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 May 2011

By
N. M. Nadkarni
Edited by
L. A. Bruijnzeel ,
F. N. Scatena  and
L. S. Hamilton
N. M. Nadkarni
Affiliation:
The Evergreen State College, USA
L. A. Bruijnzeel
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
F. N. Scatena
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
L. S. Hamilton
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
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Summary

ABSTRACT

Epiphytes are physiologically dependent upon atmospheric sources of nutrients and water delivered in rain and cloud water. In addition, their physical location in tree canopies places epiphytes at the immediate interface between the atmosphere and the forest. Both factors render epiphytes particularly vulnerable to predicted changes in cloud water deposition in montane tropical forests. The sensitivity of epiphytes such as lichens, bryophytes, and poikilohydric vascular plants has been documented for many bioregions. Hence, canopy-dwelling plants constitute excellent candidates for the monitoring of climate change in regions where micro-climatic measurements may be difficult or impossible. The vulnerability of epiphytes to climatic change has broad implications for other ecosystem components due to the many ecological roles that canopy epiphytes perform – including intercepting and retaining nutrients, providing wildlife habitat, and serving as a carbon sink on branch areas not occupied by host-tree foliage. This chapter summarizes the existing literature on this topic, which mainly comprises descriptive studies. In addition, results are presented from experimental work conducted at Monteverde, Costa Rica. Transplant experiments were carried out using epiphyte mats from upper-elevation to mid-elevation and lower-elevation sites along an altitudinal gradient over an 18-month period. Leaves of individual plants of four target taxa were marked and checked at monthly intervals to compare plant longevity, leaf production, and leaf mortality between controls left in the upper cloud forest (intact and disturbed controls) versus transplants that were exposed to drier conditions. […]

Type
Chapter
Information
Tropical Montane Cloud Forests
Science for Conservation and Management
 , pp. 557 - 565
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

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