To what extent does epiphytic community composition in boreal forests reflect soil nutrient status? To answer this question, we investigated potential links between terrestrial plants and lichen-dominated communities in Picea glauca x engelmannii canopies in south-central British Columbia. We combined original data on vegetational composition in the ground and tree layers with published data on elemental uptake in standardized transplants of the lichen Lobaria pumonaria affixed to the lower branches of studied trees. Procrustean association metrics revealed a significant concordance between community composition among the epiphytic and terrestrial vegetation, which was stronger in Mn-enriched conifer canopy settings, and weaker within the cation-enriched dripzones of adjacent Populus trees. We also found that the NMDS1-gradient for each vegetation layer was strongly correlated with base cations (and inversely with Mn) in canopy throughfall, as well as with soil and bark pH. We conclude that elemental composition in canopy throughfall forms a functional link between terrestrial and epiphytic vegetation.

北方森林附生群落组成在多大程度上反映了土壤养分状况？为了回答这个问题，我们调查了不列颠哥伦比亚省中南部的Picea glauca x engelmannii树冠中陆生植物与地衣主导群落之间的潜在联系。我们将地面和树木层中植被组成的原始数据与已发表的关于固定在研究树木下部树枝上的Lobaria pumonaria标准化移植中元素吸收的数据相结合。Procrustean 关联指标揭示了附生植物和陆生植被群落组成之间的显着一致性，这种一致性在富含锰的针叶树冠层环境中更强，而在邻近的富含阳离子的滴灌带中较弱。杨树。我们还发现，每个植被层的 NMDS1 梯度与冠层穿透中的基阳离子（与 Mn 成反比）以及土壤和树皮 pH 值密切相关。我们得出结论，树冠中的元素组成形成了陆地和附生植被之间的功能联系。