Journal
NEW PHYTOLOGIST
Volume 166, Issue 2, Pages 577-588Publisher
BLACKWELL PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2005.01319.x
Keywords
epiphyllous bryophytes; foliar leaching; leaf characteristics; nitrogen (N) exchange; phyllosphere; tropical rainforest understorey
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Epiphyllous bryophytes on tropical rainforest plants acquire nutrients from throughfall and free-living N-2-fixing organisms, but may also depend directly on host leaf leachates. By contrast, after drying events bryophytes lose significant quantities of nutrients through leaching that can be taken up by host leaves. To assess a potential nutritional interdependency, nitrogen fluxes between epiphyllous liverworts and their host leaves (Carludovica drudei, Costus laevis, Dieffenbachia concinna, Pentagonia wendlandii) were quantified by in situ(15)N-labelling techniques in a lowland rainforest, Piedras Blancas National Park, Costa Rica. Depending on host species, epiphyllous bryophytes met between 1 and 57% of their N demand from host leaf leachates. Externally supplied N-15 was taken up both by epiphylls and host leaves, but N from epiphyll leachates accounted for < 2.5% of host leaf N after 14 d. Long-term observations (180 d) demonstrated the highly dynamic nature of phyllosphere N of the investigated tropical rainforest understorey and an intermittent sink capacity of epiphyllous bryophytes.
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