Epiphytes enrich the vegetation cover and provide relevant ecosystem services, which are very important in the urban environment for mitigating air pollution and effects such as heat islands. The majority of tree species used in the urban aforestation are exotic, and their capacity to provide a substratum for epiphytes is not thoroughly exploited. We tested an eventual preference of vascular epiphytes for exotic or native phorophytes in an urban area inside the Atlantic forest domain, evaluating the structure and composition of the studied community in four tree species. There was no preference for native or exotic trees, and the community showed a generalistic pattern in the choice of phorophytes. We hypothesized about other features which could be responsible for the distribution of epiphytes in the urban environment. This study showed that both exotic and native phorophytes can act as satisfactory substratum for the urban vascular epiphytes.

中文翻译：

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附生植物可以排外吗？在城市环境中评估血管附生群落对原生和外来植物的利用

附生植物丰富了植被，并提供了相关的生态系统服务，这在缓解城市空气污染和热岛效应等城市环境中非常重要。城市造林中使用的大多数树木都是外来树种，它们为附生植物提供基质的能力尚未得到充分利用。我们在大西洋森林域内的城市地区测试了血管附生植物对外来或原生植物的最终偏好，评估了四种树种的研究群落的结构和组成。没有选择本地或外来树种的习惯，社区在选择生植物方面表现出普遍的模式。我们假设其他特征可能负责附生植物在城市环境中的分布。