Epiphyll specialization for leaf and forest successional stages in a tropical lowland rainforest

Questions

The importance of tropical rainforest gap dynamics in biodiversity maintenance is not fully understood, in particular for taxa other than trees and lianas. We used epiphylls on rainforest leaves to study the importance of leaf- and forest-scale succession in determining biodiversity patterns by characterizing community change with leaf age in gaps and closed-forest habitats. We asked: 1. Do epiphylls show specialization for leaf and forest successional stages? 2. Can early and late-successional epiphyllous species be recognized at these two scales? 3. How do epiphyll presence, species richness, and cover change with leaf and forest successional stages?

 

Location

Barro Colorado Island, Panama.

 

Methods

Data were collected from 420 leaves, in three age groups and at two heights on shrubs in gaps and closed forest. We calculated turnover and nestedness components of dissimilarity to evaluate the importance of species replacement or accumulation during leaf ...

研究问题

热带雨林林隙动态（gap dynamics）在生物多样性维持中的重要性尚未完全阐明，尤其针对树木与藤本植物以外的生物类群（taxa）。本研究以雨林叶片上的叶附生生物（epiphylls）为研究对象，通过表征林隙与郁闭林生境中随叶龄变化的群落动态，探究叶尺度与森林尺度演替对生物多样性格局的调控作用。本研究提出以下科学问题：
1. 叶附生生物是否特化于特定的叶演替阶段与森林演替阶段？
2. 在这两个尺度下，能否区分出早期演替与晚期演替的叶附生物种？
3. 叶附生生物的存在率、物种丰富度与盖度如何随叶尺度与森林尺度的演替阶段发生变化？

研究地点

巴拿马巴罗科罗拉多岛（Barro Colorado Island）。

研究方法

本研究于林隙与郁闭林的灌木上，按三个叶龄组、两个高度梯度共采集420片叶片。我们计算了群落相异性的更替组分与嵌套组分，以评估物种替换或物种积累在叶片演替过程中的重要性……