DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Nutrient Controls on Epiphyte Communities in Tropical Forests

论文研究：热带森林附生植物群落的养分控制

• 批准号: 0608499
• 负责人: Peter Vitousek
• 金额: $ 1.08万
• 依托单位: Stanford University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-08-01 至 2008-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0608499&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Nutrient; Controls; Epiphyte

Nitrogen supply frequently limits the forest productivity. Nitrogen-fixing lichens with a cyanobacterial photosynthetic partner (cyanolichens) growing as epiphytes in forest canopies have the potential to contribute significant amounts of nitrogen to forests, but the factors controlling their abundance are poorly understood. Long-term fertilization experiments in low-diversity Hawaiian montane rainforests indicate that epiphytic cyanolichens are most abundant and diverse when phosphorus supply to host trees is high, suggesting that soil phosphorus may indirectly determine epiphyte community composition and nitrogen inputs via canopy nitrogen fixation. The investigator will expand this research to investigate whether soil phosphorus also controls canopy epiphyte communities in highly diverse tropical forests on Mt. Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo. This research will contribute towards understanding both the links between terrestrial soil and canopy processes and the role of canopy nitrogen fixation in whole-forest nutrient cycles.

氮供应经常限制森林生产力。 固氮地衣与蓝藻光合作用伙伴（蓝藻）作为森林冠层附生植物生长，有可能为森林贡献大量氮，但控制其丰度的因素却知之甚少。 在低多样性夏威夷山地雨林中进行的长期施肥实验表明，当寄主树的磷供应量较高时，附生蓝地衣最为丰富和多样，这表明土壤磷可能通过冠层固氮间接决定附生植物群落组成和氮输入。 研究人员将扩大这项研究，以调查土壤磷是否也控制马来西亚婆罗洲基纳巴卢山高度多样化的热带森林中的冠层附生植物群落。 这项研究将有助于了解陆地土壤和冠层过程之间的联系以及冠层固氮在整个森林养分循环中的作用。