Beginning with the report by Stierle and Strobel in 1993 on taxol((R)) production by an endophytic fungus (Stierle et al., 1993), it is possible that a number of the agents now used as leads to treatments of diseases in man, are not produced by the plant or invertebrate host from which they were first isolated and identified. They are probably the product of a microbe in, on or around the macro...

Basidiocarps of Trametes versicolor with an epiphytic flora (including Trebouxia sp.) collected from north-central Rhode Island were incubated in an atmosphere of C labeled CO2 for 6 hours. Using autoradiography, the location of the fixed CO2 was determined at 6h, 12h, 24h, 48h, 96h, and 192h. The fixed C was recorded in the epiphytic algae after 6h, and at all subsequent times. After 192h the ...

Question: What are the relative influences of human impact, macroclimate, geographic location and habitat related environmental differences on species composition of boreal epiphytic macrolichen communities? Location: Troms county in northern Norway. Methods: Detrended Correspondence Analysis revealed the main gradient structure in lists of epiphytic macrolichen species from deciduous forests. ...

Without any root contact with the soil, epiphytic bryophytes must experience and explore poor, patchy, and heterogeneous habitats; while, the nitrogen (N) uptake and use strategies of these organisms remain uncharacterized, which obscures their roles in the N cycle. To investigate the N sources, N preferences, and responses to enhanced N deposition in epiphytic bryophytes, we carried out an in ...

In recent years, bean common bacterial blight (CBB) caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. phaseoli (Xap) has caused serious yield losses in several countries. CBB is considered mainly a foliar disease in which symptoms initially appear as small water-soaked spots that then enlarge and become necrotic and usually bordered by a chlorotic zone. Xap epiphytic population community has a critical role...

Epiphytes that grow in the canopies of tropical and subtropical forests experience different water regimes when compared with terrestrial plants. However, the differences in adaptive strategies between epiphytic and terrestrial plants with respect to plant water relations remain poorly understood. To understand how water-related traits contrast between epiphytic and terrestrial growth forms wit...

Background: A field study on the transfer of primordial radionuclides 238U, 232Th, 40K and fallout radionuclides 210Po in different plant species in tropical forest of western Ghats environment is presented. Material and Methods: The Top storey, Second storey, Shrubs and epiphytic plant species were chosen and concentration of these radionuclides in plant and soil were measured by employing gam...

Epiphytes are a characteristic component of tropical rainforests. Out of the 25,000 orchid species currently known to science, more than 70% live in tree canopies. Understanding when and how these orchids diversified is vital to understanding the history of epiphytic biomes. We investigated whether orchids managed to radiate so explosively owing to their predominantly epiphytic habit and/or the...