Epiphytes: Tropical Rainforest

Cloud forests, distributed throughout mountainous regions of Central and South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, are complex ecosystems characterized by low fog cover at the canopy level, which enhances moisture levels, and cooler temperatures than lowland tropical rainforests (Doumenge, 1995). These tropical montane forests are host to an incredible number of species, many of which are endemic to their area (Doumenge, 1995). Epiphytes, plants that root in other plants for structural support while obtaining water and nutrients from the atmosphere (Stromvik and Beauregard, 2015), make-up nearly one-third of cloud forest species and include a variety of families like orchids, bromeliads, ferns, and bryophytes. (Küper et al., 2004). Within forest layers, epiphyte diversity is highest in the middle canopy and on larger host trees, because this usually provides the best balance of light, moisture, and nutrient accessibility (Wenxing and Runguo, 2011). Epiphytes ability to manipulate atmospheric water, cycle nutrients, and provide habitat and …show more content…
Epiphytes lack access to ground soil, so they acquire nitrogen from either the atmosphere or humus accumulated on their host (Clark, Nadkarnim, and Gholz, 2005). Nitrogen-fixing microorganism living on the plant then transform inorganic nitrogen into a more accessible form. Once the epiphyte dies it decomposes, releasing high nutrient organic matter into canopy soil that benefits animals and other plants suspended off the ground. (Clark, Nadkarni, and Gholz, 2005). Since aerial plants constitute much of the biomass in cloud forests and have a short life span, they also turnover nitrogen and produce canopy soil more rapidly than woody species (Nadkarni, 2000). Therefore, epiphytic presence critically enhances nutrient cycling in cloud