The high diversity and abundance of vascular epiphytes in tropical montane cloud forest is associated with frequent cloud immersion, which is thought to protect plants from drought stress. Increasing temperature and rising cloud bases associated with climate change may increase epiphyte drought stress, leading to species and biomass loss. We tested the hypothesis that warmer and drier condition...

Vascular epiphytes are important components of biological diversity in tropical forests. We measured the species richness and abundance of vascular epiphytes along four vertical crown zones and five horizontal orientations on 376 trees, as well as the diameter at breast height (DBH) of host trees in tropical cloud forests in Bawangling, Hainan, China. The relationship between vascular epiphyte ...

The O2 budget of seagrasses is regulated by a complex interaction between several sources and sinks, which is strongly regulated by light availability and mass transfer over the diffusive boundary layer (DBL) surrounding the plant. Epiphyte growth on leaves may thus strongly affect the O2 availability of the seagrass plant and its capability to aerate its rhizosphere as a defense against plant ...

Grazers can reduce epiphytic algal loads on submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) and indirectly alter biotic interactions among epiphytic algal groups. In the present study, we elucidate responses by 3 major epiphytic functional groups (diatoms, rhodophytes, and chlorophytes) to grass shrimp Palaemonetes spp. addition and nutrient addition during 3 growth stages of the ephemeral estuarine SAV, Ru...

Epiphytes are a common component of neotropical forests, but their importance to birds at the community level and their role in contributing to tropical bird diversity has only rarely been considered. Literature accounts from 55 studies document 193 species of neotropical birds that take nectar, fruits, invertebrates, water, and nesting materials from epiphytes. To quantify the amounts and type...

Local variation in the abundance and richness of vascular epiphytes is often attributed to environmental characteristics such as substrate and microclimate. Less is known, however, about the impacts of tree and branch turnover on epiphyte communities. To address this issue, we surveyed branches and epiphytes found on the forest floor in 96 transects in two forests (Atlantic rainforest in Brazil...

The role of seagrasses in regulating epiphytes is a question of central importance for understanding structuring processes in seagrass communities. This study tests the hypothesis that seagrasses are not simply bare substrata for microalgal attachment, but rather influence community composition by altering competitive interactions between different microalgal groups. The effects of wave exposur...

The biomass and optical properties of seagrass leaf epiphytes were measured to evaluate their potential impact on the photosynthetic performance of the seagrasses Thalassia testudinum Banks ex König (turtlegrass) and Zostera marina L. (eelgrass). Turtlegrass was obtained from oligotrophic waters near Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas; eelgrass was collected from a eutrophic environment in Monterey B...