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Inner‐crown Microenvironments of Two Emergent Tree Species in a Lowland Wet Forest 1
Author(s) -
Cardelús Catherine L.,
Chazdon Robin L.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
biotropica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.813
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1744-7429
pISSN - 0006-3606
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2005.00032.x
Subject(s) - epiphyte , microclimate , crown (dentistry) , dry season , wet season , environmental science , ecosystem , tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests , ecology , biology , materials science , composite material
Vascular epiphyte communities, comprising up to 25 percent of tropical forest flora, contribute to plant diversity and thus ecosystem‐level processes; however, one of the proximal determinants of those communities, microclimate, is little studied. Here we present the first comprehensive study of microclimates in the inner crowns of two emergent tree species, Hyeronima alchorneoides and Lecythis ampla , at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. We examined photon flux density, temperature, vapor pressure, and humidity in inner‐crown branches during the wet and dry seasons and during the wet‐season leafless phase of Lecythis . In both seasons, the percentage daily PFD in foliated Lecythis crowns (9%, wet season; 11%, dry season) was significantly higher than in Hyeronima crowns (5%, both seasons), with the leafless wet‐season PFD of Lecythis reaching 23 percent of full sun. Temperature and vapor pressure varied less in Hyeronima than in Lecythis crowns during the dry season. Microenvironmental conditions for epiphytes within Hyeronima crowns were more spatially and temporally homogeneous and were more buffered from ambient conditions than within Lecythis crowns. Growing conditions within the crowns of the same trees and among different trees were measurably different and are likely to affect the structure and composition of the resident epiphyte communities.