Abstract
Introduction: Tropical montane forests are characterized by high species richness and endemism of bryophytes. However, this diversity is highly sensitive to microclimatic changes related to anthropogenic disturbance. Objective: In this study, we assessed the richness and composition of epiphytic bryophytes on the trunks of trees in undisturbed and disturbed montane forests on the Western slope of the Baru Volcano National Park. Methods: Undisturbed forests were highly humid, while disturbed forests showed high light levels and temperature. In each tree we measured the presence and cover of epiphytic bryophytes in 160 quadrants of 20 × 30 cm. Results: In total, we recorded 86 species (49 liverworts and 37 mosses). Bryophytes richness was positively influenced by disturbance, with disturbed forests showing a high number of sun epiphytes. Bryophyte community composition was different in each forest type, with shade epiphytes confined to primary forests and sun epiphytes restricted to disturbed sites. Conclusions: Bryophyte communities were effective indicators of montane forests disturbance on the Baru Volcano. Thus, protection of the undisturbed forests remnants might help to preserve a rich and diverse community of epiphytic bryophytes.
References
Acebey, A., Gradstein, S.R., & Krömer, T. (2003). Species richness and habitat diversification of bryophytes in submontane rain forest and fallows of Bolivia. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 19, 9-18.
Anderson, M.J., Gorley, R.N., & Clarke, K.R. (2008). PERMANOVA+ for PRIMER: Guide to Software and Statistical Methods. Plymouth, UK: PRIMER-E.
Allen, B.H. (1994). Moss Flora of Central America. Part 1. Sphagnaceae-Calymperaceae. Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden Press.
Allen, B.H. (2002). Moss Flora of Central America. Part 2. Encalyptaceae-Orthotrichaceae. Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden Press.
Allen, B.H. (2010). Moss Flora of Central America. Part 3. Anomodontaceae-Symphyodontaceae. Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden Press.
Allen, B.H. (2018). Moss flora of Central America. Part 4. Fabroniaceae–Polytrichaceae. Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden Press.
ANAM (Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente) (2010). Atlas Ambiental de la República de Panamá. Primera versión. Panamá.
Benítez, Á., Prieto, M., & Aragón, G. (2015). Large trees and dense canopies: key factors for maintaining high epiphytic diversity on trunk bases (bryophytes and lichens) in tropical montane forests. Forestry, 88, 521-527.
Bruijnzeel, L., & Proctor, J. (1995). Hydrology and biogeochemistry of tropical montane cloud forest: What do we really know? En L. Hamilton, J. Juvik, & F. Scatena (Eds.). Tropical Montane Cloud Forests (pp. 38-78). New York: Springer.
Cavelier, J., Solis, D., & Jaramillo, M. (1996). Fog interception in montane forest across the Central cordillera of Panama. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 12, 357-369.
Costa, D. (2008). Metzgeriaceae (Hepaticae). Flora Neotropica Monograph 102. New York, EE.UU.: New York Botanical Press.
Dinerstein, E., Olson, D., Graham, D., Webster, A., Primm, S., Bookbinder, M., & Ledec, G. (1995). Una evaluación del estado de conservación de las ecorregiones terrestres de América Latina y el Caribe. Washington, D.C., EE.UU.: Banco Mundial.
Doumenge, C., Gilmour, D., Pérez, M.R., & Blochus, J. (1995). Tropical montane cloud forests: Conservation status and management issues. En L. Hamilton, J. Juvik, & F. Scatena (Eds.), Tropical Montane Cloud Forests (pp. 24-37). New York: Springer.
Dufrêne, M., & Legendre, P. (1997). Species assemblages and indicator species: the need for a flexible asymmetrical approach. Ecological Monographs, 67, 345-366.
Frahm, J., & Gradstein, R. (1991). An altitudinal zonation of tropical rain forests using bryophytes. Journal of Biogeography, 18, 669-678.
Frahm, J., O’Shea, B., Pócs, T., Koponen, T., Piippo, S., Enroth, J., Rao, P., & Fang, Y.M. (2003). Manual of tropical bryology. Tropical Bryology, 23, 1-196.
Gómez, D.C., Rodríguez Quiel, C., Zotz, G., & Bader, M.Y. (2017). Species richness and biomass of epiphytic vegetation in a tropical montane forest in western Panama. Tropical Conservation Science, 10, 1-17.
Gradstein, S.R. (1989). A key to the Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The Bryologist, 92, 329-348.
Gradstein, S.R., & Culmsee, H. (2010). Bryophyte diversity on tree trunks in montane forests of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Tropical Bryology, 31, 95-105.
Gradstein, S.R., & Salazar-Allen, N. (1992). Bryophyte diversity along an altitudinal gradient in Darien National Park, Panama. Tropical Bryology, 5, 61-71.
Gradstein, S.R., Churchill, S., & Salazar-Allen, N. (2001a). Guide to the bryophytes of Tropical America. Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden. New York, EE.UU.: New York Botanical Garden Press.
Gradstein, S.R., Griffin, D., Morales, M., & Nadkarni, N. (2001b). Diversity and habitat differentiation of mosses and liverworts in the cloud forest of Monteverde, Costa Rica. Caldasia, 23, 203-212.
Gradstein, S.R., Homeier, J., & Gansert, D. (2008). The tropical mountain forest: Patterns and Processes in a biodiversity hotspot. Göttingen, Alemania: Universitätsverlag Göttingen.
Gradstein, S.R., & Ilkiu-Borges, A.L. (2009). Guide to the plants of Central French Guiana. Part IV. Liverworts and Hornworts. Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden. New York, EE.UU.: New York Botanical Garden Press.
Gradstein, S.R., & Sporn, S.G. (2010). Diversity of epiphytic bryophytes along land use gradients in the Tropics. Nova Hedwigia Beiheft, 138, 309-321.
Gradstein, S.R. (2016). The genus Plagiochila (Marchantiophyta) in Colombia. Revista de la Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, 40, 104-136.
Einzmann, H.J.R., & Zotz, G. (2016). How diverse are epiphyte assemblages in plantations and secondary forests in tropical lowlands? Tropical Conservation Science, 9(2), 629-647.
Hamilton, L., Juvik, J., & Scatena, F. (1995). The Puerto Rico Tropical Cloud Forest Symposium: Introduction and Workshop Synthesis. En L. Hamilton, J. Juvik, & F. Scatena (Eds.), Tropical Montane Cloud Forests (pp. 1-18). New York: Springer.
Holz, I., & Gradstein, R. (2005). Cryptogamic epiphytes in primary and recovering upper montane oak forests of Costa Rica – species richness, community composition and ecology. Plant Ecology, 178, 89-109.
Lemmon, P. (1957). A new instrument for measuring forest overstory density. Journal of Forestry, 55, 667-668.
Mandl, N.A., Kessler, M., & Gradstein, S.R. (2009). Effects of environmental heterogeneity on species diversity and composition of terrestrial bryophyte assemblages in tropical montane forests of southern Ecuador. Plant Ecology & Diversity, 2(3), 313-321.
Nöske, N., Hilt, N., Welner, F., Brehm, G., Fiedler, K., Sipman, H., & Gradstein, S.R. (2008). Disturbance effects on diversity of epiphytes and moths in a montane forest in Ecuador. Basic and Applied Ecology, 9, 4-12.
Oksanen, J., Blanchet, F.G., Kindt, R., Legendre, P., Minchin, P.R., O’Hara, R.B., Simpson, G.L., Solymos, P., Stevens, M.H.H., & Wagner, H. (2019). Vegan: Community Ecology Package (R Package version 2.5-6). Recuperado de https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/vegan/vegan.pdf
Parolly, G., & Kürschner, H. (2004). Ecosociological studies in Ecuadorian bryophyte communities. II. Syntaxonomy of the submontane and montane epiphytic vegetation of S Ecuador. Nova Hedwigia, 79, 377-424.
Pereira, I., Müller, F., & Moya, M. (2014). Influence of Nothofagus pH on lichen and bryophytes richness, Central Chile. Guyana Botánica, 71(1), 120-130.
Ray, D., Nair, U., Lawton, R., Welch, R., & Pielke, R. (2006). Impact of land use on Costa Rican tropical montane cloud forests: Sensitivity of orographic cloud formation to deforestation in the plains. Journal of Geophysical Research, 111, 1-16.
Rodríguez-Quiel, E.E., Medieta-Leiva, G., & Bader, M.Y. (2019). Elevational patterns of bryophyte and lichen biomass differ among substrates in the tropical montane forest of Baru Volcano, Panama. Journal of Bryology, 41(2), 95-106.
Salazar-Allen, N., & Chung, C. (2005). Briófitas (antocerotes, hepáticas y musgos) de la Región de Bahía Honda (Veraguas, Panamá). En S. Castroviejo & A. Ibáñez (Eds.), Estudios sobre la Biodiversidad de da Región de Bahía Honda (Veraguas, Panamá) (pp. 95-176). Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.
Soto-Medina, E., Lücking, R., & Bolaños-Rojas, A. (2012). Especificidad de forófito y preferencias microambientales de los líquenes cortícolas en cinco forófitos del bosque premontano de finca Zíngara, Cali, Colombia. Revista de Biología Tropical, 60, 843-856.
Sporn, S., Bos, M., Hoffstätter-Müncheberg, M., Kessler, M., & Gradstein, S.R. (2009). Microclimate determines community composition but not richness of epiphytic understory bryophytes of rainforest and cacao agroforests in Indonesia. Functional Plant Biology, 36, 171-179.
VanDerpoorten, A., & Goffinet, B. (2009). Introduction to bryophytes. Cambridge, Reino Unido: Cambridge University Press.
Wolf, J.H.D. (2005). The response of epiphytes to anthropogenic disturbance of pine-oak forests in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. Forest Ecology and Management, 212, 376-396.
Zuur, A.F., Ieno, E.N., & Smith, G.M. (2007). Analysing ecological data. New York EE.UU.: Springer.
Comments
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2020 Georgina Guerra, Clotilde Arrocha, Gloria Rodríguez, Jorge Déleg, Ángel Benítez