Dry-Season Fog Water Utilization by Epiphytes in a Subtropical Montane Cloud Forest of Southwest China

Liu, Lu-Lu; Yang, Bin; Lu, Hua-Zheng; Yi, Wu; Meng, Xianjing; Zhang, Yong‐Jiang; Song, Liang

doi:10.3390/w13223237

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Epiphytes' reliance on different water sources seems to be linked to their taxonomic affiliation; Liu et al . (2021) found that in a Chinese subtropical montane forest, bryophytes and ferns obtained water both from humus and fog, whereas lichens and seed plants relied almost exclusively on fog. Although significant tolerance to desiccation (Bader et al ., 2013) and temperature rise (up to an average of 3 °C) has been observed for some epiphytic species (Müller, Albach & Zotz, 2017), their ability to track new climatically suitable areas was not experimentally tested.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of anthropogenic climate change on tropical montane forests: an appraisal of the evidence

et al. 2023

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In spite of their small global area and restricted distributions, tropical montane forests (TMFs) are biodiversity hotspots and important ecosystem services providers, but are also highly vulnerable to climate change. To protect and preserve these ecosystems better, it is crucial to inform the design and implementation of conservation policies with the best available scientific evidence, and to identify knowledge gaps and future research needs. We conducted a systematic review and an appraisal of evidence quality to assess the impacts of climate change on TMFs. We identified several skews and shortcomings. Experimental study designs with controls and long-term (≥10 years) data sets provide the most reliable evidence, but were rare and gave an incomplete understanding of climate change impacts on TMFs. Most studies were based on predictive modelling approaches, short-term (<10 years) and cross-sectional study designs. Although these methods provide moderate to circumstantial evidence, they can advance our understanding on climate change effects. Current evidence suggests that increasing temperatures and rising cloud levels have caused distributional shifts (mainly upslope) of montane biota, leading to alterations in biodiversity and ecological functions. Neotropical TMFs were the best studied, thus the knowledge derived there can serve as a proxy for climate change responses in under-studied regions elsewhere. Most studies focused on vascular plants, birds, amphibians and insects, with other taxonomic groups poorly represented. Most ecological studies were conducted at species or community levels, with a marked paucity of genetic studies, limiting understanding of the adaptive capacity of TMF biota. We thus highlight the long-term need to widen the methodological, thematic and geographical scope of studies on TMFs under climate change to address these uncertainties. In the short term, however, in-depth research in well-studied regions and advances in computer modelling approaches offer the most reliable sources of information for expeditious conservation action for these threatened forests.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of anthropogenic climate change on tropical montane forests: an appraisal of the evidence

et al. 2023

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“…2016; Liu et al . 2021). Communities of vascular epiphytes (hereafter referred to as ‘epiphytes’), one of the most striking structural features of montane cloud forests, are expected to be particularly susceptible to drought as most epiphytes receive pulsed and atmospheric inputs of water (Gotsch et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tropical montane cloud forests are one of the most vulnerable ecosystems to projected changes in the climate in terms of air warming, rising cloud bases, and frequent and severe droughts (Still et al 1999;Van Beusekom et al 2017;Bax et al 2021;Karger et al 2021), because many plants in these forests are more reliant on foliar water uptake, particularly epiphytes (Gotsch et al 2015;Eller et al 2016;Liu et al 2021). Communities of vascular epiphytes (hereafter referred to as 'epiphytes'), one of the most striking structural features of montane cloud forests, are expected to be particularly susceptible to drought as most epiphytes receive pulsed and atmospheric inputs of water (Gotsch et al 2015;Zotz 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vascular epiphyte populations with higher leaf nutrient concentrations showed weaker resilience to an extreme drought in a montane cloud forest

Liu

Wen³

et al. 2022

Plant Biol J

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Leaf stoichiometry can characterize plant ecological strategies and correlate with plant responses to climate change. The role of vascular epiphytes in the ecosystem processes of tropical and subtropical forest ecosystems cannot be ignored. Vascular epiphytes are very vulnerable to climate change, however, the relationship between the response of epiphytes to climate change and leaf stoichiometry is not well understood.• We present data for 19 vascular epiphyte species that were collected during four consecutive censuses (in 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020) over 15 years in a subtropical montane cloud forest. We assessed the relationships between the population dynamics and leaf stoichiometry of these vascular epiphytes.• Experiencing an extreme drought, 14 of the 19 epiphyte species showed an obvious decrease in the number of individuals, and all species showed negative growth in the number of populations. Subsequently, the total number of individuals gradually recovered, increasing from 7,195 in 2010 to 10,121 in 2015, then to 13,667 in 2020. The increase in the number of vascular epiphyte individuals from 2010 to 2015 was significantly negatively correlated with leaf nitrogen and phosphorus concentration, and was significantly positively correlated with the leaf carbon-nitrogen ratio.• Vascular epiphyte populations with higher leaf nutrient concentrations exhibited weaker resilience to the extreme drought, which demonstrated that a resourceconservative strategy was advantageous for the recovery of epiphyte populations. Our findings suggest that ecological stoichiometry can be a useful framework for forecasting the dynamics of vascular epiphyte populations in response to climate change.

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Simulated high-intensity phorophyte removal mitigates the robustness of epiphyte community and destroys commensal network structure

Shen

et al. 2022

Forest Ecology and Management

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Dry-Season Fog Water Utilization by Epiphytes in a Subtropical Montane Cloud Forest of Southwest China

Cited by 3 publications

References 70 publications

Impacts of anthropogenic climate change on tropical montane forests: an appraisal of the evidence

Impacts of anthropogenic climate change on tropical montane forests: an appraisal of the evidence

Vascular epiphyte populations with higher leaf nutrient concentrations showed weaker resilience to an extreme drought in a montane cloud forest

Simulated high-intensity phorophyte removal mitigates the robustness of epiphyte community and destroys commensal network structure

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