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Functional diversity of epiphytes in two tropical lowland rainforests, French Guiana: using bryophyte life-forms to detect areas of high biodiversity

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Abstract

Recent studies have described a new tropical lowland forest type in the Guianas, the tropical lowland cloud forest. It is characterized by an enriched epiphytic species diversity particularly for bryophytes compared to common lowland rainforest, and is facilitated by frequent early morning fog events in valley locations. While the increase in epiphytic species diversity in lowland cloud forests has been documented, uncertainties remain as to (1) how this small scale variation in water supply is shaping the functional diversity of epiphytic components in lowland forests, and (2) whether information on functional group composition of epiphytes might aid in discerning these cloud forests from the common lowland rainforest. We compare the distribution of functional groups of epiphytes across height zones in lowland cloud forest and lowland rain forest of French Guiana in terms of biomass, cover as well as the composition of bryophyte life-forms. Both forests differed in functional composition of epiphytes in the canopy, in particular in the mid and outer canopy, with the cloud forest having a higher biomass and cover of bryophytes and vascular epiphytes as well as a richer bryophyte life-form composition. Bryophyte life-forms characteristic for cloud forests such as tail, weft and pendants were almost lacking in the canopies of common rain forest whereas they were frequent in lowland cloud forests. We suggest that ground-based evaluation of bryophyte life-form composition is a straightforward approach for identifying lowland cloud forest areas for conservation, which represent biodiversity hotspots in tropical lowland forests.

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Acknowledgments

We are very thankful to Lena Reibelt, Nina Kelch, Susanne Krause, Florian Ulm, Johannes Döhlemann, Matthias Bass, Tobias Graf, Eva Schloter and Alec Baxt for their help on data collection. We further thank Philippe Gaucher and Alec Baxt for assisting on tree equipment. We greatly acknowledge the excellent support of the staff of the Nouragues Stations, CNRS-Guyane (USR 3456), and the managers of the Nouragues Natural Reserve. We thank Hans ter Steege and one anonymous referee for helpful comments on the manuscript. The project received financial support from the Centre national de la recherché scientifique (CNRS, Nouragues Grant 2008 and 2010, PIR Amazonie), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Science Foundation (DFG, LA 1426/6-1).

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  1. Plant Ecology and Systematics, University of Kaiserslautern, PO Box 3049, 67653, Kaiserslautern, Germany

    Alexandra Pardow & Michael Lakatos

  2. Albrecht von Haller Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Göttingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073, Göttingen, Germany

    Christine Gehrig-Downie

  3. Departement Systématique et Evolution, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, C.P. 39, 57 rue Cuvier, 75231, Paris Cedex 05, France

    Robbert Gradstein

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  1. Alexandra Pardow
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Correspondence to Alexandra Pardow.

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Pardow, A., Gehrig-Downie, C., Gradstein, R. et al. Functional diversity of epiphytes in two tropical lowland rainforests, French Guiana: using bryophyte life-forms to detect areas of high biodiversity. Biodivers Conserv 21, 3637–3655 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-012-0386-z

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