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Epiphytic and terrestrial mycorrhizas in a lower montane Costa Rican cloud forest

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Abstract

The epiphyte community is the most diverse plant community in neotropical cloud forests and its collective biomass can exceed that of the terrestrial shrubs and herbs. However, little is known about the role of mycorrhizas in this community. We assessed the mycorrhizal status of epiphytic (Araceae, Clusiaceae, Ericaceae, and Piperaceae) and terrestrial (Clusiaceae, Ericaceae) plants in a lower montane cloud forest in Costa Rica. Arbuscular mycorrhizas were observed in taxa from Araceae and Clusiaceae; ericoid mycorrhizas were observed in ericaceous plants. This is the first report of intracellular hyphal coils characteristic of ericoid mycorrhizas in roots of Cavendishia melastomoides, Disterigma humboldtii, and Gaultheria erecta. Ericaceous roots were also covered by an intermittent hyphal mantle that penetrated between epidermal cells. Mantles, observed uniquely on ericaceous roots, were more abundant on terrestrial than on epiphytic roots. Mantle abundance was negatively correlated with gravimetric soil water content for epiphytic samples. Dark septate endophytic (DSE) fungi colonized roots of all four families. For the common epiphyte D. humboldtii, DSE structures were most abundant on samples collected from exposed microsites in the canopy. The presence of mycorrhizas in all epiphytes except Peperomia sp. suggests that inoculum levels and environmental conditions in the canopy of tropical cloud forests are generally conducive to the formation of mycorrhizas. These may impact nutrient and water dynamics in arboreal ecosystems.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Tropical Science Center and the staff at the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve for protection and maintenance of the study sites, C. Jandér and R. Solano for field assistance, W. Haber and W. Zuchowski for assistance with identification of plant species, M. Allen, A. Ashford, G. Cuenca, and D. Read for assistance with identification of mycorrhizal structures, J. Jernstedt for use of a photomicroscope, S. Nichol for assistance with the longitudinal sections, and A. Hartshorn, M. Rains, N. Wurzburger and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments in the preparation of this manuscript. The work was supported by a Jastro Shields Graduate Research Scholarship Award and a UC Davis Graduate Fellowship to K.C.R., National Science Foundation research grants to N.M.N. (BSR 96-15341, BIR 96-30316, and BIR 9974035) and C.S.B. (DEB 95-27722), and a grant from the National Geographic Society Committee for Research and Exploration to N.M.N.

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  1. Land Air & Water Resources, University of California, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616-8627, USA

    Kai Coshow Rains & Caroline S. Bledsoe

  2. The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA 98505, USA

    Nalini M. Nadkarni

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  1. Kai Coshow Rains
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  2. Nalini M. Nadkarni
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Correspondence to Kai Coshow Rains.

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Rains, K.C., Nadkarni, N.M. & Bledsoe, C.S. Epiphytic and terrestrial mycorrhizas in a lower montane Costa Rican cloud forest. Mycorrhiza 13, 257–264 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-003-0224-y

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