Phyllosphere nitrogen relations: reciprocal transfer of nitrogen between epiphyllous liverworts and host plants in the understorey of a lowland tropical wet forest in Costa Rica

Wanek, Wolfgang; Pörtl, Katja

doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.2005.01319.x

Cited by 25 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Cryptogams in general appear to be more efficient in retaining atmospheric nitrogen than other plant groups [14], [15]. Moss biomass has even been found to be the major determinant of N retention capacity of ecosystems [16], [17]. Therefore, mosses are thought to dampen effects of increased anthropogenic inputs of nitrogen [18], [19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sphagnum Mosses - Masters of Efficient N-Uptake while Avoiding Intoxication

et al. 2014

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Peat forming Sphagnum mosses are able to prevent the dominance of vascular plants under ombrotrophic conditions by efficiently scavenging atmospherically deposited nitrogen (N). N-uptake kinetics of these mosses are therefore expected to play a key role in differential N availability, plant competition, and carbon sequestration in Sphagnum peatlands. The interacting effects of rain N concentration and exposure time on moss N-uptake rates are, however, poorly understood.We investigated the effects of N-concentration (1, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500 µM), N-form (15N - ammonium or nitrate) and exposure time (0.5, 2, 72 h) on uptake kinetics for Sphagnum magellanicum from a pristine bog in Patagonia (Argentina) and from a Dutch bog exposed to decades of N-pollution.Uptake rates for ammonium were higher than for nitrate, and N-binding at adsorption sites was negligible. During the first 0.5 h, N-uptake followed saturation kinetics revealing a high affinity (Km 3.5–6.5 µM). Ammonium was taken up 8 times faster than nitrate, whereas over 72 hours this was only 2 times. Uptake rates decreased drastically with increasing exposure times, which implies that many short-term N-uptake experiments in literature may well have overestimated long-term uptake rates and ecosystem retention. Sphagnum from the polluted site (i.e. long-term N exposure) showed lower uptake rates than mosses from the pristine site, indicating an adaptive response. Sphagnum therefore appears to be highly efficient in using short N pulses (e.g. rainfall in pristine areas). This strategy has important ecological and evolutionary implications: at high N input rates, the risk of N-toxicity seems to be reduced by lower uptake rates of Sphagnum, at the expense of its long-term filter capacity and related competitive advantage over vascular plants. As shown by our conceptual model, interacting effects of N-deposition and climate change (changes in rainfall) will seriously alter the functioning of Sphagnum peatlands.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sphagnum Mosses - Masters of Efficient N-Uptake while Avoiding Intoxication

et al. 2014

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“…However, to further disentangle within‐ (e.g., biotic interactions and habitat quality) and among‐ (e.g., dispersal)‐patch contributions to epiphyll species assembly, future studies should employ nondestructive means (e.g., photo documentation) to document ontogenetic processes. Such censuses in combination with species removal experiments and spatiotemporal approaches to characterizing fine‐scale genetic structure would contribute to our understanding of the assembly and maintenance of these complex metacommunities essential to above‐ground biogeochemical processes in tropical forests world‐wide (Bentley, ; Frieberg, ; Wanek & Pörtl, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproductive traits as predictors of assembly chronosequence patterns in epiphyllous bryophyte metacommunities

et al. 2018

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Understanding the mechanisms underlying species assembly is a central focus of plant ecology and is crucial to revealing how plant communities are structured. However, the temporal limitations of most terrestrial plant communities preclude collection of species assembly data in a tractable time‐frame. The aim of this study is to investigate the importance of dispersal potential, as estimated by interspecific variation in sexual and asexual expression, as a predictor of patch chronosequence assembly for epiphyllous (leaf‐inhabiting) bryophytes. Secondarily, we investigate whether spatiotemporal patterns in patch turnover and compositional variation infer evidence of local (within‐patch) population processes. The frequency and distribution of 55 epiphyllous bryophytes across five leaf age classes were studied on an understorey shrub Piper grande (Piperaceae) in premontane Panamanian tropical forest. Logistical models were used to test whether interspecific variation in dispersal‐related life‐history traits predicts assembly order. Beta diversity and ordination analyses were employed to examine nestedness vs. turnover, and probe for repeatable patterns in patch chronosequence assembly, respectively. Our results emphasize the importance of dispersal potential on species assembly patterns as earlier arrivals exhibit greater probabilities of sexual and specialized asexual expression. High turnover coupled with temporal convergence in species composition also points to evidence of within‐patch biotic filtering. Synthesis. Epiphylls are locally diverse in humid tropical forests worldwide; however, the mechanisms which maintain their high local diversity are unknown. This study suggests that interspecific variation in dispersal capacity in combination with diffuse indirect effects is the principal contributor to the high alpha‐diversity of these ephemeral metacommunities.

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“…With the exception of leaves colonized with 25% liverworts and full epiphylls, rates of C assimilation per unit leaf area colonized with epiphylls were all higher than that in single uncovered leaves of P. prunifolia (Figures 2(a) and 2(c)). Combined with the well-known contribution of epiphylls for N-fixation for host leaves [9, 18, 22], the colonization of epiphylls may increase the photosynthetic efficiency in community level at some extent. Although there is a general perception that both lichens and liverworts have low photosynthetic rates compared to their host vascular plants [15], the larger diversity of photosynthetic rates ( P n ) induced by increasing of lichens coverage implied a relative higher rate of lichens compared with that of liverworts (Figures 2(a) and 2(c)).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The removal of dense lichen-induced increment of R in bare leaves may be attributed to the relative larger leaf area (the same as the area of leaf chamber) disturbed by removal treatment [53]. Leaves colonized with full lichens and liverworts before still exhibited an increased and a decreased LCP, respectively, after removal treatment (Figure 3(c), right panel), which also demonstrated that the lower LCP in the latter was one of acclimated leaf traits but not the temporary contribution from liverworts [14, 22]. The effects of removal treatment on LSP in leaves with full epiphylls were contrarily between that with full lichens and liverworts (Figure 3(d), right panel).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Differential Effects of Lichens versus Liverworts Epiphylls on Host Leaf Traits in the Tropical Montane Rainforest, Hainan Island, China

Zhou

Liu

Yang

et al. 2014

The Scientific World Journal

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Epiphylls widely colonize vascular leaves in moist tropical forests. Understanding the effects of epiphylls on leaf traits of host plants is critical for understanding ecological function of epiphylls. A study was conducted in a rain forest to investigate leaf traits of the host plants Photinia prunifolia colonized with epiphyllous liverworts and foliicolous lichens as well as those of uncolonized leaves. Our results found that the colonization of lichens significantly decreased leaf water content (LWC), chlorophyll (Chl) a and a + b content, and Chl a/b of P. prunifolia but increased Chl b content, while that of liverworts did not affect them as a whole. The variations of net photosynthetic rates (P n) among host leaves colonized with different coverage of lichens before or after removal treatment (a treatment to remove epiphylls from leaf surface) were greater than that colonized with liverworts. The full cover of lichens induced an increase of light compensation point (LCP) by 21% and a decrease of light saturation point (LSP) by 54% for their host leaves, whereas that of liverworts displayed contrary effects. Compared with the colonization of liverworts, lichens exhibited more negative effects on the leaf traits of P. prunifolia in different stages of colonization. The results suggest that the responses of host leaf traits to epiphylls are affected by the epiphyllous groups and coverage, which are also crucial factors in assessing ecofunctions of epiphylls in tropical forests.

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Phyllosphere nitrogen relations: reciprocal transfer of nitrogen between epiphyllous liverworts and host plants in the understorey of a lowland tropical wet forest in Costa Rica

Cited by 25 publications

References 39 publications

Sphagnum Mosses - Masters of Efficient N-Uptake while Avoiding Intoxication

Sphagnum Mosses - Masters of Efficient N-Uptake while Avoiding Intoxication

Reproductive traits as predictors of assembly chronosequence patterns in epiphyllous bryophyte metacommunities

Differential Effects of Lichens versus Liverworts Epiphylls on Host Leaf Traits in the Tropical Montane Rainforest, Hainan Island, China

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