VASCULAR EPIPHYTES: THE UGLY DUCKLING OF PHENOLOGICAL STUDIES

• Main Authors: ADRIANA RAMÍREZ MARTÍNEZ, DEMETRIA MARTHA MONDRAGÓN CHAPARRO, RAÚL RIVERA GARCÍA
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Nacional de Colombia 2021-01-01
• Series: Acta Biológica Colombiana
• Subjects: environmental factors; dispersion; pollination; reproductive biology; seasonal development; vegetative biology
• Online Access: https://revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/actabiol/article/view/83473

The phenology of vascular epiphytes, which represent account for about 10 % of the world’s flowering plants and perform important ecological functions, has been just partially explored. Since phenology is a key tool for the management and conservation of species, the objective of this review was to synthesize the information published so far about the phenology of vascular epiphytes, detect gaps of knowledge, and suggest future lines of investigation to understand the underlying mechanisms. We conducted an online search for articles in Google Scholar and in the ISI Web of Science database from 1800 to 2020, with different combinations of keywords. 107 studies addressing the phenology of different holo-epiphyte species were found; 88 % of the studies were performed in the Neotropic, especially in tropical and subtropical wet forests. The phenology of only ca.2% (418 spp.) of all reported epiphyte species has been explored. There is a bias toward the study of the flowering and fruiting phenology in members of the Orchidaceae (192 spp.) and Bromeliaceae (124 spp.) families. In general, the vegetative and reproductive phenology of epiphytes tends to be seasonal; however, there is a huge gap in our understanding of the proximate and ultimate factors involved. Future research should explicitly focus on studying those factors.