Population ecology of epiphytic angiosperms: A review

Abstract

Epiphytic angiosperms represent ca. 10 % of the world's flowering plants and are key elements in tropical forests. Here we synthesize the available literature on their population ecology in an attempt to find patterns that may characterize them. Epiphytes tend to have specialized pollination systems frequently involving animal vectors, resulting in a mixture of selfing and outcrossing that ensures abundant seed production. Seed dispersal is anemochorous in 84 % of the species and is pivotal for the establishment of new local populations within metapopulation. Seed germination is highly dependent on specific environmental conditions, resulting in seedling establishment in particular microhabitats on phorophytes. Individual growth rates are slow and limited by the low water and nutrient availability characteristic of the epiphytic habitat. Population growth rates (?) are close to unity and depend mostly on the survival of adults. This plant group is highly vulnerable to habitat loss and climate change.