Epiphytic Plants in a Changing World-Global: Change Effects on Vascular and Non-Vascular Epiphytes
- Author:
- Zotz G. & Bader M.Y.
- Year:
- 2008
- Journal:
- Progress in Botany
- Pages:
- 70: 147-170
- Url:
Abstract: Epiphytes have been called particularly vulnerable to climate change
because of their existence at the interface of vegetation and atmosphere. We review
the available evidence for this notion and put our analysis into the larger context
of human-induced changes in general. Besides climate change, land use changes
adversely affect epiphytes, while other factors, e.g. biotic exchange, are of lesser
importance in this life form. Both land use change and climate change primarily
affect hygrophilic taxa, while drought-resistant species may sometimes even benefit.
Vascular and non-vascular epiphytes in tropical cloud forests will seriously suffer
from decreased moisture input. In contrast, varying precipitation in more seasonal
lowland forests seems to affect vascular species rather little, but a possible negative impact of rising temperatures on plant performance is unexplored. For co-occurring
lichens and bryophytes, however, rising temperatures could have disastrous effects, as
suggested by model calculations. In the temperate zones, global warming should
allow range extensions towards the poles for vascular epiphytes and lead to new
assemblages among non-vascular epiphytes. In spite of this mixed picture, epiphytes as a
group may indeed be “particularly” threatened by global change, because the habitats
characterised by exceptional species richness, e.g. tropical cloud forests, are those
most seriously affected.
- Id:
- 11788
- Submitter:
- zdenek
- Post_time:
- Monday, 15 December 2008 08:41