Scheffknecht et al. 2012 (Article) Mexico

Survival and Growth of Juvenile Bromeliads in Coffee Plantations and Forests in Central Veracruz, Mexico

Author(s):—S. Scheffknecht, M. Winkler, M. Mata-Rosas & P. Hietz

Publication:—Biotropica 44(3): 341-349. (2012) — DOI

Abstract:—Shade coffee plantations can be important refuges for epiphytes, but are not suitable for all species. To test if the performance of early life stages, often the most sensitive phase, is responsible for the species? ability to colonize coffee plantations, we compared growth and mortality rates of three epiphytic bromeliad species that differ in their ability to colonize secondary arboreal vegetation by transplanting juveniles to trees in forests, and shade trees in old and young coffee plantations in Central Veracruz, Mexico. Growth rates of Tillandsia viridiflora, generally restricted to forests, and Tillandsia juncea, an early colonizer, were related to the pattern of the species occurrence among habitats with growth rates of T. viridiflora being generally higher in forests and growth of T. juncea higher in coffee plantations. Performance of the third species, Tillandsia heterophylla, which is intermediate in habitat preference, was not clearly related to habitat. No difference in growth rates was found between plants transplanted in wet or dry season. In general, mortality in transplanted bromeliads was relatively low (mostly

Keywords:—Bromeliaceae, coffee plantation, epiphytes, herbivory, survival, transplantation experiment