Dispersal limitation of Tillandsia species correlates with rain and host structure in a central Mexican tropical dry forest.

ABSTRACT: Seed dispersal permits the colonization of favorable habitats and generation of new populations, facilitating escape from habitats that are in decline. There is little experimental evidence of the factors that limit epiphyte dispersion towards their hosts. In a tropical dry forest in central Mexico, we monitored the phenology of dispersion of epiphyte species of the genus Tillandsia; we tested experimentally whether precipitation could cause failures in seed dispersal and whether seed capture differs among vertical strata and between host species with high (Bursera copallifera) and low (Conzattia multiflora) epiphyte loads. With the exception of one species that presents late dispersion and low abundance, all of the species disperse prior to the onset of the rainy season. However, early ra

SUBMITTER: Victoriano-Romero E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5291420 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature