Germination of an invasive fern responds better than native ferns to water and light stress in a Mexican cloud forest

León, Salvador González de; Briones, Oscar; Aguirre, Alan; Mehltreter, Klaus; Pérez-García, Blanca

doi:10.1007/s10530-021-02570-z

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…conditions [29,58,62]. In addition to high humidity conditions that seem to govern the distribution of tree ferns across montane regions [27,63,64], light incidence appears to be a determining factor to explain the distributions of tree ferns [29,37], especially during the first phase of the life cycle [28,38,[65][66][67]. For instance, our results support the shade tolerance observed…”

Section: Plos Onesupporting

confidence: 81%

“…The elevation ranges of these two species coincide with zones of greater variability in soil nutrients; the distribution of A. firma seems to be limited to areas with high concentration of phosphorous, whereas the areas inhabited by G. salvinii have high nitrogen and carbon concentration with relatively low phosphorus. Our results reinforce evidence of the importance of soil nutrients to understanding community structure in ferns [29,58,65]. However, in our study the influence of soil nutrients was not consistent across species, since the abundance of Cyathea species was not associated with soil nutrients.…”

Section: Plos Onesupporting

confidence: 55%

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Distribution and morphological variation of tree ferns (Cyatheaceae) along an elevation gradient

Merino,

Ramírez-Barahona,

Olson

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

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Knowing how species and communities respond to environmental change is fundamental in the context of climate change. The search for patterns of abundance and phenotypic variation along altitudinal gradients can provide evidence on adaptive limits. We evaluated the species abundance and the variation in morphometric and stomatal characters in five tree ferns species (Cyathea fulva, C. divergens, C. myosuroides, Alsophila firma and Gymnosphaera salvinii) distributed along an elevation gradient in a well-preserved Mexican cloud forest. Variation at the community and species level was assessed using exploratory and multivariate data analysis methods. We wanted to explore if the species abundance is environmentally determined, to determine the degree of variation along the elevation gradient, to test for differences between zones and associations with elevation, humidity and soil nutrients, and to assess contribution of the intra- and interspecific variation to the community response to elevation and soil nutrients. The studied fern community showed strong species turnover along the elevation gradient, with some influence of soil nutrient concentration, supporting environmental determinism. All measured characters displayed variation along the gradient. Stomatal characters (size and density) had significantly less variation than morphometric characters (trunk diameter, stipe length and blade length), but stomatal density also shows interesting intraspecific patterns. In general, patterns within the fern community suggest a strong influence of species identity, especially of species inhabiting the lower edge of the cloud forest, which showed the clearest morphometric and stomatal patterns, associated to contrasting environments rather than to changes in elevation. The coincidence between morphometric and stomatal patterns in this area suggest hydraulic adjustments in response to contrasting environments. Our results provide evidence that tree ferns species respond to environmental changes through adjustments of morphometric plasticity and stomatal density, which is relevant to predict possible responses to variation in environmental conditions resulting from climate change.

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Section: Plos Onesupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Plos Onesupporting

confidence: 55%

Distribution and morphological variation of tree ferns (Cyatheaceae) along an elevation gradient

Merino,

Ramírez-Barahona,

Olson

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

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“…We are unaware of any study directly showing that interspecific competition limits the distribution of fern species. Recent work on invasive fern species shows that invasiveness is favored by a ground-dwelling life form, reproductive plasticity, and tolerance for disturbance and varied light conditions (Jones et al, 2019), whereas in a Mexican cloud forest the invasive Macrothelypteris torresiana is more tolerant to water deficit and has less specific germination requirements than native fern species (Gonzales de León et al, 2021). These studies point to traits that increase the competitive ability of fern species, although they do not prove that such highly competitive species limit the distributions of other species.…”

Section: Biotic Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mountain Ferns: What Determines Their Elevational Ranges and How Will They Respond to Climate Change?

Kessler

Kluge

2022

American Fern Journal

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Mountains are the global centers of fern diversity and at the same time strongly affected by climate change, raising the question of how fern species and communities will respond to these changes. In the present review, which also includes our own unpublished data, we first outline the challenges of identifying distributional boundaries in ferns. We suggest that the elevational ranges of many fern species are determined by geographical constraints such as low mountain tops and sea level, as well as habitat availability rather than by climate. We then show that climate-range limits of ferns are driven by numerous physiological processes, not only involving the effects of cold and drought stress at high elevations, but also of drought stress coupled with high temperatures at low elevations, and possibly even of such poorly considered factors as low frost tolerance at low elevations in the absence of snow cover. Finally, there is also some evidence for biotic limitations, such as interspecific competition and the negative influence of leaf litter, especially in species-rich assemblages without extreme climatic factors. Overall, we find that elevational distributions of ferns are determined by a broad suite of factors, many of which do not involve physiological tolerance to climate or only indirectly so, and therefore that reactions of ferns to climate change will likely be species-and context-specific. We also emphasize the paucity of studies focusing both on the physiological limitations for fern growth and reproduction, and on biotic interactions affecting fern distributions. To overcome these knowledge gaps, we advocate a range of further studies, including resampling of old vegetation plots, lab experiments, and transplantation experiments, on both gametophytes and sporophytes.

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“…– and one alien species, Macrothelypteris torresiana (Gaudich.) Ching, which was introduced from Asia (González de León et al, 2021). Each host‐plant species was used as a treatment, whereas the parental host A. linkiana was used as control.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of experimental host‐plant switching on the life cycle of a fern spore‐feeding micromoth of the genus Stathmopoda

Fuentes-Jacques

Hanson

Mehltreter

et al. 2022

Entomologia Exp Applicata

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Fern-feeding insects have not received much attention because ferns have been considered herbivore-resistant plants. However, ferns are attacked by herbivorous insects, including specialized spore feeders. For a better understanding of host specialization, we investigated the effect of experimentally transferred larvae of a spore-feeding moth, Stathmopoda sp. (Lepidoptera: Stathmopodidae), from its original fern host Amauropelta linkiana (C. Presl) Pic. Serm., to three closely related species [Amauropelta rudis (Kunze) Pic. Serm, Amauropelta oligocarpa (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Pic. Serm., and Amauropelta resinifera (Desv.) Pic. Serm.], and one alien fern species, Macrothelypteris torresiana (Gaudich.) Ching (all Thelypteridaceae). After experimental host-plant transfer, we measured spore consumption of the larvae, and the survival and duration of each developmental stage. Once larvae were transferred to alternative hosts, they were still able to complete their life cycle, but consumed more spores, required more time to reach the adult stage, and had lower survival rates than on their original host, or even skipped the fifth instar on alternative hosts. Thus, our results suggested a strong adaptation of this moth species on its original host plant. We discuss some traits of experimental hosts, as the spores may contain fewer nutrients, or higher concentrations of toxic agents for larval development, thus restricting successful host-plant switching. Further studies to measure the frequency and successful colonization of alternative hosts in nature are needed, by assessing variation in the chemical composition of spores between original and alternative hosts.

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Germination of an invasive fern responds better than native ferns to water and light stress in a Mexican cloud forest

Cited by 8 publications

References 57 publications

Distribution and morphological variation of tree ferns (Cyatheaceae) along an elevation gradient

Distribution and morphological variation of tree ferns (Cyatheaceae) along an elevation gradient

Mountain Ferns: What Determines Their Elevational Ranges and How Will They Respond to Climate Change?

Effects of experimental host‐plant switching on the life cycle of a fern spore‐feeding micromoth of the genus Stathmopoda

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