Abundance patterns for vascular epiphytes in a tropical secondary forest, Costa Rica

Secondary tropical forests have proliferated as a consequence of deforestation. Biodiversity conservation and ecosystem restoration, if success is to be achieved, necessitate understanding secondary forest dynamics. Epiphytes, a critical and conspicuous component of tropical forest diversity and a requisite for proper ecosystem function, are of paramount concern for tropical forest conservation. Presented first is a brief overview of the pertinent literature delineating regeneration and successional processes, and governing variables, of epiphytes in tropical secondary forests. Three variables (forest edges, tree species and non-vascular epiphyte influence) were studied in Costa Rica to evaluate the effect they had on vascular epiphyte abundance; the variables represented three different levels useful for examining epiphyte abundance in secondary forests. Orchids were more abundant on Terminalia amazonia than Vochysia hondurensis (P<0.001) and were positively correlated with non-vascular epiphyte abundance (r=0.41, P<0.001). Aroids were significantly affected by forest edges (P<0.05) and negatively correlated with non-vascular epiphyte abundance (r=-0.13, P<0.05).