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Trade-offs between succulent and non-succulent epiphytes underlie variation in drought tolerance and avoidance

  • Physiological ecology – original research
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Abstract

Epiphyte communities comprise important components of many forest ecosystems in terms of biomass and diversity, but little is known regarding trade-offs that underlie diversity and structure in these communities or the impact that microclimate has on epiphyte trait allocation. We measured 22 functional traits in vascular epiphyte communities across six sites that span a microclimatic gradient in a tropical montane cloud forest region in Costa Rica. We quantified traits that relate to carbon and nitrogen allocation, gas exchange, water storage, and drought tolerance. Functional diversity was high in all but the lowest elevation site where drought likely limits the success of certain species with particular trait combinations. For most traits, variation was explained by relationships with other traits, rather than differences in microclimate across sites. Although there were significant differences in microclimate, epiphyte abundance, and diversity, we found substantial overlap in multivariate trait space across five of the sites. We found significant correlations between functional traits, many of which related to water storage (leaf water content, leaf thickness, hydrenchymal thickness), drought tolerance (turgor loss point), and carbon allocation (specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content). This suite of trait correlations suggests that the epiphyte community has evolved functional strategies along with a drought avoidance versus drought tolerance continuum where leaf succulence emerged as a pivotal overall trait.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the following individuals and institutions for field-based infrastructure and access to private property for research: Centro Científico Tropical, in particular Yoryineth Mendez and Geiner Alvarado Huertas (Research and Protection Department Heads, respectively); UGA-San Luis, in particular Fabricio Camacho; Buen Amigo Farm, in particular Camilo Aspen and Noam Sirota; Curi Cancha Reserve, in particular Lowther family and Mauricio Ramirez. We thank Maricella Solis and the Monteverde Institute for logistical support. We thank Alex Vergara and Stefania Mambelli at UC-Berkeley for organizing and analyzing the leaf samples for stable isotope analyses.

Funding

The authors acknowledge funding from the following sources NSF: IOS-1556289 and Franklin and Marshall College (SGG), NSF: IOS-1556319 and The University of Utah (NN), NSF: IOS-1557333 and The University of California-Berkeley (TED).

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Author notes

  1. K. Davidson

    Present address: Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA

  2. M. Dix

    Present address: Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

  3. J. G. Murray

    Present address: Department of Biology, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA

  4. R. Nӕsborg

    Present address: Conservation and Research, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

  5. C. B. Williams

    Present address: Channel Islands National Park, Ventura, CA, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, USA

    S. G. Gotsch, C. B. Williams, R. Bicaba, A. Darby, K. Davidson, M. Dix, V. Duarte, A. Glunk, L. Green, B. Ferguson, K. Muñoz-Elizondo, J. G. Murray, I. Picado-Fallas & R. Nӕsborg

  2. Department of Integrative Biology, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    R. Cruz-de Hoyos & T. E. Dawson

  3. Conservation and Research, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    C. B. Williams

  4. School of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    N. Nadkarni

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  1. S. G. Gotsch
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Contributions

SGG, NN, TED secured funding for the research. SGG, NN, TED and CBW designed the study. SGG and CBW led the field and lab work. SGG, CBW, RB, AD, KD, MD, VD, AG, LG, BF, KME, JGM, RRN and IPF participated in field collections and functional trait measurements in the field lab. RCH lead the isotope analysis. RB, KD, AG, LG, BF conducted preliminary statistical analyses. SGG conducted the final statistical analyses. SGG wrote the manuscript. All authors edited the manuscript.

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Correspondence to S. G. Gotsch.

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Communicated by Gerardo Avalos.

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Gotsch, S.G., Williams, C.B., Bicaba, R. et al. Trade-offs between succulent and non-succulent epiphytes underlie variation in drought tolerance and avoidance. Oecologia 198, 645–661 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-022-05140-9

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