Plants on Plants – The Biology of Vascular Epiphytes

292 Pages·2016·9.563 MB·English

by  Gerhard Zotz (auth.)

Fascinating Life Sciences
Gerhard Zotz
Plants on Plants -
The Biology of
Vascular Epiphytes
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Gerhard Zotz
Plants on Plants – The
Biology of Vascular
Epiphytes
GerhardZotz
InstituteofBiologyandEnvironmentalSciences
UniversityofOldenburg
Oldenburg,Germany
ISSN2509-6745 ISSN2509-6753 (electronic)
FascinatingLifeSciences
ISBN978-3-319-39236-3 ISBN978-3-319-39237-0 (eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-39237-0
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016951311
#SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2016
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The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
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Cover illustration: Cover photo shows epiphytic Fascicularia bicolor in a temperate rainforest near
Huinay(Chile),courtesyofSimonPfanzelt
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Preface
Epibiota,organismswhichliveonotherlivingthings,areafascinatingfacetoflife
onearth.Abarnacleonabluewhale,atinydiatomonahugekelp,aliverwortona
palmleafintheunderstoryofarainforest,andahugetankbromeliadintheouter
crownofagianttreehavequiteafewthingsincommon,buttherearealsoalarge
number of distinctions. My initial plan was to write a book with a very broad
taxonomicscope,coveringatleastthephenomenonofepiphytisminterrestrial,i.e.,
non-marineandnon-limnetic,systems.Thiswouldhaveresultedinthe treatise of
epiphyticvascularplants,lichens,mosses,liverworts,and(terrestrial)algaesuchas
Trentepohliasp.Ittookafewmonthsformetorealizethatcoveringthebiologyof
vascularepiphytesinthedesireddepthwouldalreadybeenoughofachallengefora
single person. Hence, I narrowed the scope to the biology of the approximately
28,000speciesofvascularplantswhichalwaysorprimarilyoccuronotherplants.
Thereaderwillseethatthisdoesnotmean,however,thatIamignoringnonvascular
epiphytesorothercanopy-livingorganisms.
Asmuchaspossible,Itriedtoidentifyopenresearchquestionsandtoconnect
the particular case of vascular epiphytes to general biological principles, hoping
thatthiswillmakestimulatingreadingbothfortheadvancedgraduatestudent,who
is, e.g., looking for an interesting project, and for the senior scientist turning to
epiphytes because there may be a connection with the organisms he or she is
studying. The final product of my efforts may also be seen as the successor of a
book that has been the reference for those with a genuine interest in vascular
epiphytesformorethanaquarter century, DavidH.Benzing’s seminal “Vascular
epiphytes,”whichwaspublishedin1990.Icanonlyhopethatmybookwillbeas
stimulatingandusefularesourceasDavid’sbookhasbeenformeandmanyothers
for the last decades. Initially planning to write in “dry” scientific prose, I soon
decided to include personal comments on desirable directions and to be rather
explicitinpointingoutparticularareasthatIconsiderunderstudied.Aprovocative
statementhereandthereisarguablyawaytostimulateinterestingscience.Ifyou
disagreeaboutaparticularpointofview,letmeknow—andlet’sstartadiscussion
aboutthebestwaytomoveforward.
Oldenburg,Germany GerhardZotz
February2016
v
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Acknowledgments
Science is a social endeavor. Hence, this single-author monograph is not the
isolatedachievement ofonepersonbutbuildsontheworkofmanyothers.Ihave
triedtoacknowledgethiscontributionofotherswithnumerouscitations,whichin
theendyieldedasubstantialcitationlist.However,itissimplyimpossibletociteall
papersthatcontributedinonewayortheothertothisbookinacomprehensiveway.
My personal collection of publications that contain information on vascular
epiphytessumsuptoalmost7000papers,books,bookchapters,theses,orreports.
Iapologizeifyourpaperisnotcited—Ihadtomakeachoice.Thisdoesnotsuggest
anyunderlyingjudgmentofqualityorimportance.
In addition, I had countless conversations with colleagues and students on my
favorite subject over the last two decades, which helped to form the ideas and
conclusions of this book. I also use unpublished information. For example, Cat
Cardelu´s(Colgate,USA),MichaelKessler(ETH,Switzerland),andNicoBl€uthgen
(Darmstadt, Germany) provided extensive datasets on nutrient concentrations.
Wolfgang Wanek (Vienna, Austria) shared unpublished data on nutrient uptake
and Peter Hietz (Vienna, Austria) unpublished biomass data. Finally, I thank
Rhett Harrison (Kunming, PR China) for sharing insights into the biology of
hemiepiphytes.
Anumberofcolleagues(DirkAlbach,Jose-LuisAndrade,CatherineCardelu´s,
Helena Einzmann, Peter Hietz, Michael Kessler, Holger Kreft, Thorsten Kr€omer,
GlendaMendietaLeiva,HeidiMeudt,AnaSilviaMoreira,SimonPfanzelt,Alfredo
Salda~na,KatrinWagner,andWolfgangWanek)readdraftsofindividualchapters
andIamgratefulfortheirsuggestionsandfrankcriticism.Othershelpedoutwith
specific information on canopy anurans, euglossine bees, or C4 photosynthesis
(ShawnMcCracken,DavidRoubik,andRowanSage).Havingsaidthis,Iamsolely
responsibleforanyfactualmistakesorinterpretationsyoumaydisagreewith.Iam
happytotakeanycriticism.
I thank Herta Sauerbrey (University Oldenburg) and Angel Aguirre
(Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute—STRI) for all the help in procuring
literature over many years. Dirk Albach, Peter Bak, Wilhelm Barthlott, Kevin
Burns, Damian Catchpole, Gerhard Gottsberger, Michael Kessler, Moritz
Klinghardt, Bejat McCracken, Ana Silvia Moreira, Steve Pearce, Rick Riefner,
David Roubik, Steven Sylvester, and Christian Ziegler generously offered
vii
viii Acknowledgments
photographs. Laura Kuijpers, Christian K€onig, and Holger Kreft helped with the
geographical data and the preparation of the global distribution figures. Katrin
Wagner supplied modified versions of graphs of previous publications. Vera
Mageney and Dirk Albach helped with the figure on the relationship of
pseudobulbs, epiphytism, and phylogeny in the Epidendroideae. Joachim
BeyschlagprovidedagraphillustratingthepotentialofY-Plant.
Lastbutnotleast,Ialsowanttoacknowledgethefinancialsupportbyanumber
ofinstitutionsthatmadeitpossibleformetoworkonthebiologyofepiphytesfor
somanyyears,mostprominentlytheDFG,butalsotheDAAD,STRIinPanama,
the Jubila¨umsstiftung in W€urzburg, Germany, and the Freiwillige Akademische
GesellschaftinBasel,Switzerland.
A Comment on Plant Names
Accepted species names are not constant but rather frequently change with taxo-
nomic revisions. For consistency, I only use names that are currently accepted in
the online database “The Plant List” (accessedDecember 2015), even when other
names were used in the original publications. The following list compares the
currentlyacceptednameswiththoseintheoriginalpublications.
Nameusedinoriginalpublication Currentlyvalidname Family
Didymopanaxpittieri Schefflerarodriguesiana Araliaceae
Epidendrummacrostachyum Beclardiamacrostachya Orchidaceae
Ficusstupenda Ficuscrassirameasubsp.stupenda Moraceae
Guzmaniaminor Guzmanialingulata Bromeliaceae
Laeliacinnabarina Cattleyacinnabarina Orchidaceae
Lecanopterissinuosa Myrmecophilasinuosa Polypodiaceae
Oncidiumenderianum Oncidiumpraetextum Orchidaceae
Pitcairniaflavescens Pitcairniaalbiflos Bromeliaceae
Pleopeltispolypoidoides Polypodiumpolypodioides Polypodiaceae
Polypodiumphvllitidis Campyloneurumphyllitidis Polypodiaceae
Polypodiumcrassifolium Niphidiumcrassifolium Polypodiaceae
Psygmorchispusilla Erycinapusilla Orchidaceae
Psygmorchisglossomystax Erycinaglossomystax Orchidaceae
Rhipsalisheteroclada Rhipsalisteres Cactaceae
ix