记录热带山区物种丰富度模式的研究导致了相互矛盾的观察结果:随着海拔的增加单调下降,随着海拔的增加单调增加,和一个中等高度的凸起。\"目前,目前还不清楚这些差异是否是由于研究区域之间的环境差异,分类群或生态群(例如,生长形式)采样,或沿海拔梯度的研究规模。由于难以采样和识别冠层植物,量化热带附生植物的数量相对有限且最近。在这项研究中,我们对VolcánMaderas上的血管附生植物区系及其空间分布进行了详细的定性和定量评估,奥梅佩岛,尼加拉瓜,包括沿火山整个海拔梯度的天气和环境测量。我们在与海拔升高相关的五种不同森林类型中采样了附生植物,如下所示:干燥森林,潮湿的森林,潮湿的森林,云森林,和小精灵森林。沿海拔梯度放置了五个气象站,以便我们将观察到的模式与环境条件联系起来。在海拔约1000m处(云林)的所有维管附生植物均检测到物种丰富度的中海拔峰值,然而,附生植物的丰度随着海拔的增加而增加。总共确定了206个血管附生植物分类单元,属于26个家族和73个属。物种最丰富的家族是兰科,整个海拔梯度有55种,其次是凤梨科(29种),天南星科(23),龙足科(25),鳞翅目科(16),和胡椒科(11),所有其他家庭的代表都不到10种。我们发现丰富度模式在附生植物群之间存在系统发育差异,可能是由于不同的适应策略,并且大部分物种似乎在沿海拔梯度的特定生境带内分布狭窄。与湿度相关的变量,降水,湿度,湿度薄雾,或云层覆盖是理解观察到的模式的关键。
Research that has been conducted documenting species richness patterns on tropical mountains has resulted in conflicting observations: monotonic declines with increasing elevation, monotonic increases with increasing elevation, and a mid-elevation \"bulge.\" Currently, it is unclear if these differences are due to environmental differences among study areas, the taxonomic groups or ecological groups (e.g., growth form) sampled, or the scale of study along elevation gradients. Because of the difficulty in sampling and identifying canopy-dwelling plants, the number of inventories quantifying tropical epiphytes is relatively limited and recent. In this study, we provide a detailed qualitative and quantitative assessment of the vascular epiphyte flora and its spatial distribution on Volcán Maderas, Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua, including weather and environmental measurements along the entire elevation gradient of the volcano. We sampled epiphytes in five distinct forest types associated with increasing elevation as follows: dry forest, humid forest, wet forest, cloud forest, and elfin forest. Five weather stations were placed along the elevation gradient for us to relate observed patterns to environmental conditions. A mid-elevation peak in species richness was detected for all vascular epiphytes at approximately 1000 m in elevation (cloud forest), yet epiphyte abundance increased with increasing elevation. In total we identified 206 taxa of vascular epiphytes belonging to 26 families and 73 genera. The most species-rich family was the Orchidaceae with 55 species for the entire elevation gradient, followed by Bromeliaceae (29 species), Araceae (23), Polypodiaceae (25), Dryopteridaceae (16), and Piperaceae (11), with all other families represented by fewer than 10 species each. We found that richness patterns differ phylogenetically across epiphyte groups, possibly due to different adaptive strategies, and species for the most part appear to be narrowly distributed within specific habitat zones along the elevation gradient. Variables associated with moisture, precipitation, humidity, mist, or cloud cover are key to understanding the observed patterns.