Long-term dynamics of an epiphyte community - pattern and process

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Gerhard Zotz
• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Plants and Ecosystems
• Term: from 2009 to 2013
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 121773062

The mechanisms behind the structure and dynamics of plant communities are hotly debated. Two opposing concepts emphasize either niche explanations or, alternatively, dispersal (=neutral) processes. The proposed project takes advantage of the unique opportunity of a complete census of some 13,000 vascular epiphytes in a pristine Panamanian lowland forest that was finished in 2002. Gaining access by use of a tower crane to all strata of the forest, this project will directly document the dynamics of this community in time and space (“pattern”) and use experimental and observational approaches to study the underlying mechanisms (“process”). The basic hypothesis to be tested assumes a deterministic vertical structure in the epiphyte community, but a large degree of ecological equivalence among the species comprising different vertical guilds.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants