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Diversity, distribution and host-species associations of epiphytic orchids in Nepal

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Abstract

Associations between epiphytes and their hosts are among the main factors affecting the biodiversity and distribution of epiphytes. While several previous studies explored the association between epiphyte diversity and host characteristics, very little is known about the generality of such associations at larger spatial scales. We aim to explore the associations between diversity and distribution of epiphytic orchids and host characteristics in different localities in Nepal. Epiphytic orchids and their hosts were recorded along the transects in total of 23,539 host individuals. To describe the diversity of orchids in the different localities, a rarefaction function was used. Univariate and multivariate analyses were carried out to explore the associations with locality, host characteristics, and their interactions with locality. In total, we recorded 141 species of orchids growing on 192 host species. The five localities significantly differed in orchid diversity and abundance. The number of orchid individuals per host species significantly increased with increasing number of host individuals. Species richness, abundances, occupancy of orchid species on host species and composition of orchids varied across the localities. Species richness and abundance was significantly higher on hosts in the higher strata and differed between families of host species. Abundance was higher on evergreen hosts. Composition of orchid communities are also associated with host characteristics, such as habit (shrub/tree/climber), bark texture, nature (deciduous/evergreen) and the plant families of host species. This study revealed a high diversity of epiphytic orchids in the localities studied and strong associations between the orchids and their hosts. Future studies looking at the relationships between epiphyte communities and host characteristics need to identify relationships at a wider scale in order to determine whether they are really general rather than site-specific.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Government of Nepal for giving us permission to carry out our research in different National Parks. This work was supported by Grant No. 14-36098G of the Czech Science Foundation to PK and by the MSMT within the National Sustainability Program I (NPU I), Grant number LO1415 to BT and MBR. MBR is partly supported by institutional support RVO 67985939 during manuscript preparation. We thank Tony Dixon for editing the English.

Author contributions

P.K. conceived and designed the experiments; B.T., M.B.R., B.S., B.B. and B.B.R. collected the data; B.T., M.B.R. and Z.M. analyzed the data; and B.T. prepared the manuscript with an assistance from M.B.R., Z.M. and P.K.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Environmental Studies/Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Benatska 2, 128 01, Prague, Czech Republic

    Binu Timsina, Zuzana Münzbergová, Pavel Kindlmann & Bikram Shrestha

  2. Department of Biodiversity Research, Global Change Research Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, Bělidla 4a, 603 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Binu Timsina, Maan B. Rokaya & Pavel Kindlmann

  3. Institute of Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences, Zamek 1, 252 43, Průhonice, Czech Republic

    Maan B. Rokaya & Zuzana Münzbergová

  4. Birendra Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Nepal

    Bishnu Bhattarai

  5. State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China

    Bhakta B. Raskoti

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  1. Binu Timsina
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Correspondence to Binu Timsina.

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Communicated by Daniel Sanchez Mata.

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Timsina, B., Rokaya, M.B., Münzbergová, Z. et al. Diversity, distribution and host-species associations of epiphytic orchids in Nepal. Biodivers Conserv 25, 2803–2819 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1205-8

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