Life Sciences & Biomedicine - Other Topics
; Environmental Sciences & Ecology
; Evolutionary Biology
英文摘要:
Liverworts and mosses are a major component of the epiphyte flora of tropical montane forest ecosystems. Canopy access was used to analyse the distribution and vertical stratification of bryophyte epiphytes within tree crowns at nine forest sites across a 3400 m elevational gradient in Peru, from the Amazonian basin to the high Andes. The stable isotope compositions of bryophyte organic material (C-13/C-12 and O-18/O-16) are associated with surface water diffusive limitations and, along with C/N content, provide a generic index for the extent of cloud immersion. From lowland to cloud forest delta C-13 increased from -33 parts per thousand to -27 parts per thousand, while delta O-18 increased from 16.3 parts per thousand to 18.0 parts per thousand. Epiphytic bryophyte and associated canopy soil biomass in the cloud immersion zone was estimated at up to 45 t dry mass ha(-1), and overall water holding capacity was equivalent to a 20 mm precipitation event. The study emphasizes the importance of diverse bryophyte communities in sequestering carbon in threatened habitats, with stable isotope analysis allowing future elevational shifts in the cloud base associated with changes in climate to be tracked.
1.Univ Cambridge, Dept Plant Sci, Downing St, Cambridge CB2 3EA, England 2.Univ Stirling, Fac Nat Sci, Biol & Environm Sci, Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland 3.Univ Nacl San Antonio Abad Cusco, Herbario Vargas CUZ, Cuzco, Peru 4.Univ Fed Uberlandia, Inst Biol, Uberlandia, MG, Brazil 5.Smithsonian Trop Res Inst, POB 0843-03092, Panama City, Panama 6.Wake Forest Univ, Dept Biol, Winston Salem, NC 27106 USA 7.Harvard Univ, Harvard Forest, 324 North Main St, Petersham, MA 01366 USA 8.Univ Oxford, Environm Change Inst, Sch Geog & Environm, Oxford, England 9.San Diego Zoo Inst Conservat Res, 15600 San Pasqual Valley Rd, Escondido, CA 92027 USA 10.Aarhus Univ, Aarhus, Denmark
Recommended Citation:
Horwath, Aline B.,Royles, Jessica,Tito, Richard,et al. Bryophyte stable isotope composition, diversity and biomass define tropical montane cloud forest extent[J]. PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES,2019-01-01,286(1895)