Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T03:24:02.187Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Growth and survival of Tillandsia flexuosa on electrical cables in Panama

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 December 2009

Stefan Wester  and
Gerhard Zotz
Stefan Wester*
Affiliation:
Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Institute for Biology and Environmental Sciences, Functional Ecology, Box 2503, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany
Gerhard Zotz
Affiliation:
Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Institute for Biology and Environmental Sciences, Functional Ecology, Box 2503, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado Postal 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancon, Panamá, República de Panamá
*
1Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Almost 50% of the estimated 2500 species in the Bromeliaceae grow epiphytically in a remarkably wide range of habitats from inhospitable deserts to tropical rain forests (Benzing 2000). The degree of dependence on the host varies (Benzing 1990, Laube & Zotz 2006), and in some cases, epiphytic bromeliads may dispense completely with living hosts, and may thrive on artificial substrates such as electrical cables. This is not entirely surprising because this family provides examples of particularly remarkable adaptations to the epiphytic habitat like water-impounding leaf bases and water- and nutrient-absorbing scales (Benzing 2000). The so-called atmospheric forms in this family (e.g. Tillandsia recurvata) possess a dense covering of these scales, and use roots entirely as holdfasts, while leaves perform photosynthesis and take up water and nutrients. Although quite regularly mentioned in the literature (Benzing 1990, 2000; Brighigna et al. 1997, Lüttge 1989), we are not aware of any study investigating the vigour of plants growing on cables compared with plants growing on trees. The only functional aspects that have already been studied are related to nutrients, i.e. presence of nitrogen-fixing endophytes in Tillandsia recurvata plants from natural hosts and from electrical cables in Mexico (Puente & Bashan 1994) and differences in chemical composition of plant tissues and nutrient retention by leaves in Tillandsia capillaris growing on cables and trees in Argentina (Abril & Bucher 2009). Intermittent water supply, but also low nutrient supply, play an important role in epiphyte ecology (Zotz & Hietz 2001), which leads to the following alternative hypotheses: (1) Plants on electrical cables are usually close to roads.

Keywords

Bromeliaceaemortalitynutrient limitationOrchidaceaeRGRvascular epiphytes
Type
Short Communication
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , January 2010 , pp. 123 - 126
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

ABRIL, A. B. & BUCHER, E. H. 2009. A comparison of nutrient sources of the epiphyte Tillandsia capillaris attached to trees and cables in Cordoba, Argentina. Journal of Arid Environments 73:393–395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ANONYMOUS. 1988. Atlas nacional de la Republica de Panamá. Instituto Geográfico Nacional “Tommy Guardia”, Panamá City. 222 pp.Google Scholar
BADER, M., MENKE, G. & ZOTZ, G. 2009. A pronounced drought tolerance characterizes the early life stages of the epiphytic bromeliad Tillandsia flexuosa. Functional Ecology 23:472–479.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BENZING, D. H. 1990. Vascular epiphytes. General biology and related biota. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 354 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BENZING, D. H. 2000. Bromeliaceae – profile of an adaptive radiation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 690 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BRIGHIGNA, L., RAVANELLI, M., MINELLI, A. & ERCOLI, L. 1997. The use of an epiphyte (Tillandsia caput-medusae Morren) as bioindicator of air pollution in Costa Rica. Science of the Total Environment 198:175–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CASWELL, H. 2001. Matrix population models. (Second edition). Sinauer Associates, Sunderland. 722 pp.Google Scholar
HIETZ, P. 1997. Population dynamics of epiphytes in a Mexican humid montane forest. Journal of Ecology 85:767–777.Google Scholar
HIETZ, P., AUSSERER, J. & SCHINDLER, G. 2002. Growth, maturation and survival of epiphytic bromeliads in a Mexican humid montane forest. Journal of Tropical Ecology 18:177–191.Google Scholar
HUNT, R. 1982. Plant growth curves – the functional approach to plant growth analysis. Edward Arnold, London. 248 pp.Google Scholar
LAUBE, S. & ZOTZ, G. 2006. Neither host-specific nor random: vascular epiphytes on three tree species in a Panamanian lowland forest. Annals of Botany 97:1103–1114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LÜTTGE, U. (ed.) 1989. Vascular plants as epiphytes: evolution and ecophysiology. Springer Verlag, Heidelberg. 270 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PUENTE, M.-E. & BASHAN, Y. 1994. The desert epiphyte Tillandsia recurvata harbours the nitrogen-fixing bacterium Pseudomonas stutzeri. Canadian Journal of Botany 72:406–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SMITH, J. A. C., GRIFFITHS, H. & LÜTTGE, U. 1986. Comparative ecophysiology of CAM and C3 bromeliads. I. The ecology of Bromeliaceae in Trinidad. Plant, Cell and Environment 9:359–376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TREMBLAY, R. L. 1997. Lepanthes caritensis, an endangered orchid: no sex, no future? Selbyana 18:160–166.Google Scholar
WINKLER, M., HÜLBER, K. & HIETZ, P. 2007. Population dynamics of epiphytic bromeliads: life strategies and the role of host branches. Basic and Applied Ecology 8:183–196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ZOTZ, G. 1995. How fast does an epiphyte grow? Selbyana 16:150–154.Google Scholar
ZOTZ, G. 2005. Differences in vital demographic rates in three populations of the epiphytic bromeliad, Werauhia sanguinolenta. Acta Oecologica 28:306–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ZOTZ, G. 2009. Growth in the xerophytic epiphyte Tillandsia flexuosa Sw. (Bromeliaceae). Ecotropica 15:7–12.Google Scholar
ZOTZ, G. & HIETZ, P. 2001. The ecophysiology of vascular epiphytes: current knowledge, open questions. Journal of Experimental Botany 52:2067–2078.Google Scholar
ZOTZ, G. & SCHMIDT, G. 2006. Population decline in the epiphytic orchid, Aspasia principissa. Biological Conservation 129:82–90.Google Scholar
ZOTZ, G., LAUBE, S. & SCHMIDT, G. 2005. Long-term population dynamics of the epiphytic bromeliad, Werauhia sanguinolenta. Ecography 28:806–814.Google Scholar