Cladophora glomerata is a widely distributed filamentous freshwater alga that hosts a complex microalgal epiphyte assemblage. We manipulated nutrients and epiphyte abundances to access their effects on epiphyte biomass, epiphyte species composition, and C. glomerata growth. C. glomerata did not grow in response to these manipulations. Similarly, nutrient and epiphyte removal treatments did not ...

Total epiphyte load, epiphyte chlorophyll load, epiphyte autotrophic ~ n d e x and seagrass short shoot size are compared with water column nutrient concentrations and the elemental composition of seagrass leaf tlssue The spa t~a l patterns ~n these parameters are described across a nutrlent ava~lability gradlent In Flonda Bay, Flor~da, USA Multivanate and un~var ia te statistical analyses were...

Aim Epiphytes contribute up to 30% to the number of vascular plant species in certain global biodiversity hotspots, e.g. the Ecuadorian Andes. However, their large scale diversity patterns are still discussed on the base of results from a few, local epiphyte inventories. Consequently, explanatory models on epiphyte diversity concentrate on the impact of local climate on small scale epiphyte spe...

The effects of grazing and nutrients on epiphyte biomass in seagrass beds have received much attention, yet less is known about effects on other metrics of epiphyte growth dynamics, such as epiphyte productivity and biomass turnover rates. To help address this gap, we present here a number of mesocosm experiments in which we manipulate grazer presence and nutrient concentrations under initially...

Vascular epiphytes are an understudied and particularly important component of tropical forest ecosystems. However, owing to the difficulties of access, little is known about the properties of epiphyte-host tree communities and the factors structuring them, especially in Asia. We investigated factors structuring the vascular epiphyte-host community and its network properties in a tropical monta...

Question: What are the qualitative and quantitative long-term changes in the vascular epiphyte assemblage on a particular host tree species? Location: Lowland rain forest of the San Lorenzo Crane Plot, Republic of Panama. Methods: We followed the fate of the vascular epiphyte assemblage on 99 individuals of the palm Socratea exorrhiza by three censuses over the course of five years. Results: Th...

The current knowledge of the physiological ecology of vascular epiphytes is reviewed here with an emphasis on the most recent literature. It is argued that by far the most relevant abiotic constraint for growth and vegetative function of vascular epiphytes is water shortage, while other factors such as nutrient availability or irradiation, are generally of inferior importance. However, it is sh...

Recent large-scale seagrass declines have prompted experimental investigations of potential mechanisms. Although many studies have implicated eutrophication or reductions of epiphyte grazers in these declines, few experiments have simultaneously manipulated both factors to assess their relative effects. This study used meta-analyses of 35 published seagrass studies to compare the relative stren...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS A possible role of host tree identity in the structuring of vascular epiphyte communities has attracted scientific attention for decades. Specifically, it has been suggested that each host tree species has a specific subset of the local species pool according to its own set of properties, e.g. physicochemical characteristics of the bark, tree architecture, or leaf phenology ...

To assess the effects of shading by epiphytes on the carbon balance of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica, we examined the patterns of within-shoot epiphyte abundance on leaves, and their variability with season and depth. Epiphyte biomass was found to depend on leaf age (larger epiphyte load on older tissues), leaf side (more epiphytes on the inner face than on the outer) and depth (more epiphyte...