Abstract
Cloud forests have been found to lose more nitrogen in stream discharge than they gain from atmospheric deposition. They also support a large diversity and biomass of tree epiphytes, predominately composed of cryptogams. Since cryptogam epiphytes harbor nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria, they may help make up for the nitrogen loss from ecosystems. We assessed cryptogam biomass on the ground, boles and branches in Quercus costaricensis dominated stands near the tree line in the Cordillera de Talamanca, Costa Rica. Nitrogen fixation was assayed using 15N2 uptake. Total cryptogam biomass was 2 977 kg ha−1, with 67% being found on the lower branches. Bryophytes and chlorolichens made up 53% and 44%, respectively, of the biomass. Half of the bryophyte mass was composed of the liverwort Plagiochila heterophylla, and 66% of the chlorolichen of Lobariella pallida. There were no significant differences in nitrogen fixation rates between the cryptogam species, with a mean rate of 5.04 µg N g−1 day−1 during the predominantly wet condition in the forest. The overall nitrogen input from fixation was 6.1 kg N ha−1 year−1, of which 78% came from bryophytes, 18% from chlorolichens, and 4% from cyanolichens. Only 2.0% of the fixation occurred in cryptogams on the ground, whereas 67%, 24%, and 7% occurred on the lower branches, boles, and upper branches, respectively. These results show that tree epiphytes constitute a significant source of nitrogen for these forests, due to the trees’ large surface area, and can make up for the nitrogen lost from these ecosystems.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by an NSERC discovery grant to JM and by the Vicerrectoría de Investigación from the University of Costa Rica. Thanks to Michelle Piercey Normore and María Isabel Morales Zurcher for help identifying the cryptogams. Thanks to Federico Valverde at Los Nímbulos Field station. The Instituto Meteorológico Nacional de Costa Rica provided part of the weather data used in this study.
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JM and MFO conceived and designed and performed the experiments. JM performed the data analysis. JM and MFO wrote the manuscript.
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Communicated by Duncan Menge.
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Markham, J., Fernández Otárola, M. Bryophyte and lichen biomass and nitrogen fixation in a high elevation cloud forest in Cerro de La Muerte, Costa Rica. Oecologia 195, 489–497 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04840-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04840-4