Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Part I General perspectives
- Part II Regional floristic and animal diversity
- Part III Hydrometeorology of tropical montane cloud forest
- Part IV Nutrient dynamics in tropical montane cloud forests
- Part V Cloud forest water use, photosynthesis, and effects of forest conversion
- Part VI Effects of climate variability and climate change
- 54 Meso-scale climate change due to lowland deforestation in the maritime tropics
- 55 The impact of deforestation on orographic cloud formation in a complex tropical environment
- 56 Meso-scale climate change in the central mountain region of Veracruz State, Mexico
- 57 Potential effects of global climate change on epiphytes in a tropical montane cloud forest: an experimental study from Monteverde, Costa Rica
- 58 Climatic change impacts on tropical montane cloud forests: fire as a major determinant in the upper zones of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
- 59 Historical 14C evidence of fire in tropical montane cloud forests in the Chimalapas region of Oaxaca, southern Mexico
- 60 Biennial variation in tree diameter growth during eight years in tropical montane cloud forests on Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
- 61 Modeling the dynamics of tropical montane cloud forest in central Veracruz, Mexico
- Part VII Cloud forest conservation, restoration, and management issues
- References
57 - Potential effects of global climate change on epiphytes in a tropical montane cloud forest: an experimental study from Monteverde, Costa Rica
from Part VI - Effects of climate variability and climate change
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2011
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Part I General perspectives
- Part II Regional floristic and animal diversity
- Part III Hydrometeorology of tropical montane cloud forest
- Part IV Nutrient dynamics in tropical montane cloud forests
- Part V Cloud forest water use, photosynthesis, and effects of forest conversion
- Part VI Effects of climate variability and climate change
- 54 Meso-scale climate change due to lowland deforestation in the maritime tropics
- 55 The impact of deforestation on orographic cloud formation in a complex tropical environment
- 56 Meso-scale climate change in the central mountain region of Veracruz State, Mexico
- 57 Potential effects of global climate change on epiphytes in a tropical montane cloud forest: an experimental study from Monteverde, Costa Rica
- 58 Climatic change impacts on tropical montane cloud forests: fire as a major determinant in the upper zones of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
- 59 Historical 14C evidence of fire in tropical montane cloud forests in the Chimalapas region of Oaxaca, southern Mexico
- 60 Biennial variation in tree diameter growth during eight years in tropical montane cloud forests on Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
- 61 Modeling the dynamics of tropical montane cloud forest in central Veracruz, Mexico
- Part VII Cloud forest conservation, restoration, and management issues
- References
Summary
ABSTRACT
Epiphytes are physiologically dependent upon atmospheric sources of nutrients and water delivered in rain and cloud water. In addition, their physical location in tree canopies places epiphytes at the immediate interface between the atmosphere and the forest. Both factors render epiphytes particularly vulnerable to predicted changes in cloud water deposition in montane tropical forests. The sensitivity of epiphytes such as lichens, bryophytes, and poikilohydric vascular plants has been documented for many bioregions. Hence, canopy-dwelling plants constitute excellent candidates for the monitoring of climate change in regions where micro-climatic measurements may be difficult or impossible. The vulnerability of epiphytes to climatic change has broad implications for other ecosystem components due to the many ecological roles that canopy epiphytes perform – including intercepting and retaining nutrients, providing wildlife habitat, and serving as a carbon sink on branch areas not occupied by host-tree foliage. This chapter summarizes the existing literature on this topic, which mainly comprises descriptive studies. In addition, results are presented from experimental work conducted at Monteverde, Costa Rica. Transplant experiments were carried out using epiphyte mats from upper-elevation to mid-elevation and lower-elevation sites along an altitudinal gradient over an 18-month period. Leaves of individual plants of four target taxa were marked and checked at monthly intervals to compare plant longevity, leaf production, and leaf mortality between controls left in the upper cloud forest (intact and disturbed controls) versus transplants that were exposed to drier conditions. […]
- Type
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- Information
- Tropical Montane Cloud ForestsScience for Conservation and Management, pp. 557 - 565Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
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