Abstract
Environmental heterogeneity is a key component in explaining the megadiversity of tropical forests. Despite its importance, knowledge about local drivers of environmental heterogeneity remains a challenge for ecologists. In Neotropical forests, epiphytic tank bromeliads store large amounts of water and nutrients in the tree canopy, and their tank overflow may create nutrient-rich patches in the soil. However, the effects of this nutrient flux on environmental heterogeneity and plant community structure in the understory remain unexplored. In a Brazilian coastal sandy forest, we investigated the effects of the presence of epiphytic tank bromeliads on throughfall chemistry, soil chemistry, soil litter biomass, light, and seedling community structure. In the presence of epiphytic tank bromeliads, the throughfall nitrogen concentration increased twofold, the throughfall phosphorus concentration increased threefold, and the soil patches had a 3.96% higher pH, a 50% higher calcium concentration, and 11.88% less light. By altering the availability of soil resources and conditions, the presence of bromeliads partially shifted the available niche spaces for plant species and indirectly affected the structure of the seedling communities, decreasing their diversity, density, and biomass. For the first time, we showed that the presence of tank bromeliads in the canopy can create characteristic soil patches in the understory, affecting the structure of seedling communities via fertilization. Our results reveal a novel local driver of environmental heterogeneity, reinforcing and expanding the key role of tank bromeliads both in nutrient cycling and plant community structuring of Neotropical coastal sandy forests.
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The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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The code used for statistical analysis in the current study is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank all the staff of Núcleo Picinguaba (Serra do Mar State Park) and Lucas Zorzetti for assistance during fieldwork; Dr. Pedro Bergamo and Dr. Luiz Mania for assistance during bromeliad species identification; and the Integrated Center for Agrometeorological Information (CIIAGRO) and Dr. Angélica Pantano for the weather dataset of the study site. We also thank the Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia (Institute of Biology/UNICAMP). COTEC/IF 000.662/2017 permit.
Funding
TAP received an MSc scholarship from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development/CNPq (grant 130112/2017-8) and from the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel/CAPES (Brazil, finance code 001). This research was cosupported by the CNPq-PELD (grant 403710/2012-0), the British Natural Environment Research Council/NERC, and the São Paulo Research Foundation/FAPESP as part of the projects PELD/BIOTA and ECOFOR (grant 2012/51509-8 and 2012/51872-5), within the BIOTA/FAPESP Program—The Biodiversity Virtual Institute (www.biota.org.br). RSO received a CNPq productivity grant. PAPA received a postdoc scholarship from the FAPESP (grant 2017/26243-8). GQR acknowledges financial support for research provided by the FAPESP (grant 2017/09052-4 and 2019/08474-8), CNPq through a research grant, and the Royal Society, Newton Advanced Fellowship (grant NAF/R2/180791).
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GQR and TAP conceived the ideas. TAP, GQR, and SAV designed the methodology. TAP conducted field work supported by GQR and SAV. TAP, RSO, PAPA, and GHM analyzed the data. TAP led the writing of the manuscript. All authors contributed critically to the drafts and gave final approval for publication.
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Pereira, T.A., Vieira, S.A., Oliveira, R.S. et al. Local drivers of heterogeneity in a tropical forest: epiphytic tank bromeliads affect the availability of soil resources and conditions and indirectly affect the structure of seedling communities. Oecologia 199, 205–215 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-022-05179-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-022-05179-8