Morphophysiological Plasticity in Epiphytic Bromeliads Across a Precipitation Gradient in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Cach-Pérez, Manuel J.; Andrade, José Luís; Reyes‐García, Casandra

doi:10.1177/1940082918781926

Cited by 19 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…The RDPI values of both populations of T. utriculata confirmed the high plasticity of the species (Fig. ), as the values were in general higher than that previously observed in most epiphytic species (Chaves et al , de la Rosa‐Manzano et al , Cach‐Pérez et al ; but similar values reported for Miltonia flavescens by Pires et al ) and similar to that of invasive woody and herbaceous species (Godoy et al ). Studies involving RDPI values have shown that not all variables are equally divergent within a species, but some tend to be more conservative.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…Widespread species are thus obvious candidates to possess plasticity because of their success in acclimating to a wide variety of habitats (Baker 1965, Oliva et al 1993, Williams et al 1995. However, a clear relationship between the phenotypic plasticity and wide distribution of a plant species has not been found (Sultan 2001, Schumacher et al 2009, Godoy et al 2011, Palacio-López and Gianoli 2011, Cach-Pérez et al 2018.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among the traits that contribute to the success of Bromeliaceae in diverse habitats are morphological and physiological features such as succulence, phytotelm shoot (tank for water and nutrient storage), foliar trichomes replacing absorptive roots, and crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM; Benzing 2000). Species from seasonal habitats have shown high plasticity in response to the naturally changing light, temperature and water availability within their environments or under experimental conditions (Martin et al 1986, Haslam et al 2003, Laube and Zotz 2003, Bader et al 2009, Reyes-García et al 2012, González-Salvatierra et al 2013, Cach-Pérez et al 2018. Plastic traits may be anatomical, such as increased trichome density and size to decrease absorption of excess light or decreased stomatal density to reduce transpiration (Cach-Pérez et al 2016) and physiological, such as decreased photosynthesis and growth rates in response to drought (Laube and Zotz 2003, Bader et al 2009, Reyes-García et al 2012.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High resilience to extreme climatic changes in the CAM epiphyte Tillandsia utriculata L. (Bromeliaceae)

Rosado-Calderón

Tamayo-Chim

Barrera

et al. 2018

Physiologia Plantarum

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Climate change is expected to increase the frequency of extreme climatic events, yet few studies have addressed the capacity of plant species to deal with such events. Species that are widespread are predicted to be highly plastic and able to acclimate to highly changing conditions. To study the plasticity in physiological responses of the widely distributed epiphyte Tillandsia utriculata, we transplanted individuals from a coastal scrub and broadleaf evergreen forest to a similar coastal scrub site and forest. After a 45-day acclimation, the plants were moved to a semi-controlled greenhouse at each site, and then subjected to a 20-day drought. Physiological variables were measured during the acclimation and the drought. The individuals of scrub and forest populations had similar relative water content and carbon assimilation in the contrasting conditions of the two transplantation sites despite the high discrepancy between the environments at their original site. Electron transport rates were higher in individuals from the scrub population. Electron transport rates were also higher than estimated from carbon assimilation, suggesting that photorespiration was present. The individuals of the coastal scrub population had a higher capacity to dissipate excess energy this way. The relative distance index of plasticity was high overall, indicating that some traits are highly plastic (titratable acidity, carbon assimilation) in order to maintain the stability of others (maximum quantum yield F /F and relative water content). We conclude that T. utriculata is a highly plastic species with a high capacity to tolerate extreme environmental changes over a short time.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High resilience to extreme climatic changes in the CAM epiphyte Tillandsia utriculata L. (Bromeliaceae)

Rosado-Calderón

Tamayo-Chim

Barrera

et al. 2018

Physiologia Plantarum

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“…S1 ; Orellana et al, 1999 ). Mean annual temperature is 25.1 °C, but seasonal and monthly variation is high, with mean maximum temperatures of 36.1 °C at the end of the dry season ( Jackson et al, 2018 ), which results in high vapor pressure deficit (mean of 2 kPa, compared to the wet season (mean of 0.5 kPa) ( Cach-Pérez, Andrade & Reyes-García, 2018 ). The predominant vegetation is seasonally dry semi-deciduous tropical forest in which 50–75% of plants shed their leaves during the dry season.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal and successional dynamics of size-dependent plant demographic rates in a tropical dry forest

Saenz-Pedroza

Feldman

Reyes‐García

et al. 2020

PeerJ

Self Cite

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Tropical forests are globally important for biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation but are being converted to other land uses. Conversion of seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTF) is particularly high while their protection is low. Secondary succession allows forests to recover their structure, diversity and composition after conversion and subsequent abandonment and is influenced by demographic rates of the constituent species. However, how these rates vary between seasons for different plant sizes at different successional stages in SDTF is not known. The effect of seasonal drought may be more severe early in succession, when temperature and radiation are high, while competition and density-dependent processes may be more important at later stages, when vegetation is tall and dense. Besides, the effects of seasonality and successional stage may vary with plant size. Large plants can better compete with small plants for limiting resources and may also have a greater capacity to withstand stress. We asked how size-dependent density, species density, recruitment and mortality varied between seasons and successional stages in a SDTF. We monitored a chronosequence in Yucatan, Mexico, over six years in three 0.1 ha plots in each of three successional stages: early (3–5 years-old), intermediate (18–20 years-old) and advanced (>50 years-old). Recruitment, mortality and species gain and loss rates were calculated from wet and dry season censuses separately for large (diameter > 5 cm) and small (1–5 cm in diameter) plants. We used linear mixed-effects models to assess the effects of successional stage, seasonality and their changes through time on demographic rates and on plant and species density. Seasonality affected demographic rates and density of large plants, which exhibited high wet-season recruitment and species gain rates at the early stage and high wet-season mortality at the intermediate stage, resulting in an increase in plant and species density early in succession followed by a subsequent stabilization. Small plant density decreased steadily after only 5 years of land abandonment, whereas species density increased with successional stage. A decline in species dominance may be responsible for these contrasting patterns. Seasonality, successional stage and their changes through time had a stronger influence on large plants, likely because of large among-plot variation of small plants. Notwithstanding the short duration of our study, our results suggest that climate-change driven decreases in rainy season precipitation may have an influence on successional dynamics in our study forest as strong as, or even stronger than, prolonged or severe droughts during the dry season.

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“…Small leaves often minimize evaporation, while thicker leaves have a larger water-storage capacity to pass through arid environments (Bartlett et al., 2012). Although co-occurring taxa have been observed divergent adaptive performances in response to water availability, the underlying physiological and morphological mechanisms by epiphyte species coping with water stress, however, remain poorly understood (Cach-Pérez et al., 2018; Gotsch et al., 2015, 2018; Zhang et al., 2016; Zotz & Bader, 2009).…”

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confidence: 99%

Divergent Strategies of Epiphytic Pteridophytes and Angiosperms Responding to Dry and Wet Seasons in a Tropical Cloud Forest

Long

Zhang

et al. 2020

Tropical Conservation Science

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Epiphyte is a unique component of forest diversity vulnerable to changing environments. Characterizing variations in functional traits of epiphytes across dry and wet seasons can enhance our understanding their strategies to environments. We measured and assessed variations of 14 leaf functional traits responding to water conditions for epiphytic pteridophytes (EP) and epiphytic angiosperms (EA) across dry and wet seasons in a tropical cloud forest. Results showed that leaf dry weight (LDW) and stomatal length (SL) of EP were significantly higher than EA, while leaf water content (LWC) of EA was significantly higher than EP. The SL, stomatal density (SD), upper epidermis thickness (UET), lower epidermis thickness (LET), palisade tissue thickness (PT), spongy tissue thickness (ST), and leaf thickness (LT) of EP and EA were significantly higher in wet season than dry season. The variance of stomatal and anatomical traits explained by season types (0.24–0.78) was higher than plant groups (0.0–0.25), while the variance of LDW and LWC explained by plant groups (0.12–0.40) was higher than season types (0.0–0.29). Principal component analysis and correlation analyses showed that SL, stomatal index, UET, ST, LET, and LT were the key traits reflecting epiphyte adaptation to dry season, as well as that LWC and leaf density were the key traits in wet season. Our results suggest that the different taxonomic groups exhibit divergent strategies responding to water differences. Great variations in leaf traits to dry seasons are predicted that vascular epiphytes, especially pteridophytes, are prone to disappear with drought events.

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Morphophysiological Plasticity in Epiphytic Bromeliads Across a Precipitation Gradient in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Cited by 19 publications

References 46 publications

High resilience to extreme climatic changes in the CAM epiphyte Tillandsia utriculata L. (Bromeliaceae)

High resilience to extreme climatic changes in the CAM epiphyte Tillandsia utriculata L. (Bromeliaceae)

Seasonal and successional dynamics of size-dependent plant demographic rates in a tropical dry forest

Divergent Strategies of Epiphytic Pteridophytes and Angiosperms Responding to Dry and Wet Seasons in a Tropical Cloud Forest

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