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a plant that is an epiphyte for part of its life (同)semiepiphyte

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出典(authority):フリー百科事典『ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』「2016/06/20 17:26:45」(JST)

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Near Orosí, Costa Rica

A clinging root of an orchid.

An epiphyte is a plant that grows harmlessly upon another plant (such as a tree) and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, and sometimes from debris accumulating around it. Epiphytes differ from parasites in that epiphytes grow on other plants for physical support and do not necessarily negatively affect the host. An epiphytic organism that is not a plant is called an epibiont.^[1] Epiphytes are usually found in the temperate zone (e.g., many mosses, liverworts, lichens, and algae) or in the tropics (e.g., many ferns, cacti, orchids, and bromeliads).^[2] Many houseplants are epiphyte species due to their minimal water and soil requirements. Epiphytes provide a rich and diverse habitat for other organisms including animals, fungi, bacteria, and myxomycetes.^[3]

Epiphyte is one of the subdivisions of the Raunkiær system.

An epiphytic bromeliad

The term epiphytic derives from the Greek epi- (meaning 'upon') and phyton (meaning 'plant'). Epiphytic plants are sometimes called "air plants" because they do not root in soil. However, there are many aquatic species of algae, including seaweeds, that are epiphytes on other aquatic plants (seaweeds or aquatic angiosperms).

Biodiversity

The best-known epiphytic plants include mosses, orchids, and bromeliads such as Spanish moss (of the genus Tillandsia), but epiphytes may be found in every major group of the plant kingdom. 89% of epiphyte species (about 24,000) are flowering plants. The second largest group are the leptosporangiate ferns, with about 2800 species (10% of epiphytes). In fact, about one third of all ferns are epiphytes.^[4] The third largest group is clubmosses, with 190 species, followed by a handful of species in each of the spikemosses, other ferns, Gnetales, and cycads.^[5]

Physiognomy

Epiphytes on a tree near Santa Elena, Costa Rica

Epiphytic organisms usually derive only physical support and not nutrition from their host, though they may sometimes damage the host. Parasitic and semiparasitic plants growing on other plants (mistletoe is well known) are not "true" epiphytes (a designation usually given to fully autotrophic epiphytes), but are still epiphytic in habit. Plants such as New Zealand species of Griselinia – which send long roots down towards the soil while fixed high in another plant and reliant upon it for physical support – are also epiphytic in habit.^{[citation needed]}

Some epiphytic plants are large trees that begin their lives high in the forest canopy. Over decades they send roots down the trunk of a host tree eventually overpowering and replacing it. The strangler fig and the northern rātā (Metrosideros robusta) of New Zealand are examples of this. Epiphytes that end up as free standing trees are also called hemiepiphytes.

Nutrition

Epiphytes on electric wires. This kind of plant takes both CO₂ and water from the atmosphere for living and growing

Epiphytic plants use photosynthesis for energy and (where non-aquatic) obtain moisture from the air or from dampness (rain and cloud moisture) on the surface of their hosts. Roots may develop primarily for attachment, and specialized structures (for example, cups and scales) may be used to collect or hold moisture.

Ecology

The first important monograph on epiphytic plant ecology was written by A.F.W. Schimper (Die epiphytische Vegetation Amerikas, 1888). Assemblages of large epiphytes occur most abundantly in moist tropical forests, but mosses and lichens occur as epiphytes in almost all biomes. In Europe there are no dedicated epiphytic plants using roots, but rich assemblages of mosses and lichens grow on trees in damp areas (mainly the western coastal fringe), and the common polypody fern grows epiphytically along branches. Rarely, grass, small bushes or small trees may grow in suspended soils up trees (typically in a rot-hole).

Epiphytic plants attached to their hosts high in the canopy have an advantage over herbs restricted to the ground where there is less light and herbivores may be more active. Epiphytic plants are also important to certain animals that may live in their water reservoirs, such as some types of frogs and arthropods.

Epiphytes can have a significant effect on the microenvironment of their host, and of ecosystems where they are abundant, as they hold water in the canopy and decrease water input to the soil.^[6] The epiphytes create a significantly cooler and moister environment in the host plant canopy, potentially greatly reducing water loss by the host through transpiration.

References

^ Hickey, M.; King, C. (2001). The Cambridge Illustrated Glossary of Botanical Terms. Cambridge University Press.
^ Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged. (1976). Vol. I, p. 764. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Chicago.
^ Sydney E. Everhart; Joseph S. Ely; Harold W. Keller (2009). "Evaluation of tree canopy epiphytes and bark characteristics associated with the presence of corticolous myxomycetes" (PDF). Botany 87: 509–517. doi:10.1139/b09-027.
^ Hogan, C Michael, 2010. Fern. Encyclopedia of Earth. National council for Science and the Environment. Washington, DC
^ Schuettpelz, Eric (2007), The evolution and diversification of epiphytic ferns (PDF), Duke University PhD thesis
^ Stanton, D.E., Chávez, J.H., Villegas, L., Villasante, F., Armesto, J., Hedin, L.O., Horn, H. "Epiphytes Improve Host Plant Water Use by Microenvironment Modification", Functional Ecology (journal), doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.12249

External links

Epiphytes on a Scot's Pine in Gorbie Glen, Scotland

English Journal

Reconstructing the δ18 O of atmospheric water vapor via the CAM epiphyte Tillandsia usneoides: Seasonal controls on δ18 O in the field and large-scale reconstruction of δ18 Oa .

Helliker BR.SourceDepartment of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, 433 S. University Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19104.
Plant, cell & environment.Plant Cell Environ.2013 Jul 26. doi: 10.1111/pce.12167. [Epub ahead of print]
Using both oxygen isotope ratios of leaf water (δ18 OL ) and cellulose (δ18 OC ) of T. usneoides in situ, this paper examined how short- and long-term responses to environmental variation and model parameterization affected the reconstruction of the atmospheric water vapor (δ18 Oa ). During sampl
PMID 23889204

Abscisic acid and nitric oxide signaling in two different portions of detached leaves of Guzmania monostachia with CAM up-regulated by drought.

Mioto PT, Mercier H.SourceDepartamento de Botânica, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, CEP 05508-090 São Paulo, Brazil.
Journal of plant physiology.J Plant Physiol.2013 Jul 15;170(11):996-1002. doi: 10.1016/j.jplph.2013.02.004. Epub 2013 Mar 22.
Guzmania monostachia is an epiphyte tank bromeliad capable of up-regulating crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) in response to several environmental stimuli, including drought and light stress. In other plant species, abscisic acid (ABA) and nitric oxide (NO) seem to be involved in CAM induction. Bec
PMID 23523467

Factors driving the seasonal distribution of planktonic and epiphytic ciliates in a eutrophicated Mediterranean Lagoon.

Dhib A, Brahim MB, Ziadi B, Akrout F, Turki S, Aleya L.SourceUniversité de Franche-Comté, Laboratoire de Chrono-Environnement, UMR CNRS 6249, France; Institut National des Sciences et Technologies de la Mer (INSTM), Laboratoire Milieu Marin, Centre la Goulette, Tunisia.
Marine pollution bulletin.Mar Pollut Bull.2013 Jul 11. pii: S0025-326X(13)00313-5. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2013.06.021. [Epub ahead of print]
We studied the distribution of planktonic and epiphytic ciliates coupled with environmental factors and microalgae abundance at five stations in Ghar El Melh Lagoon (Tunisia). Planktonic ciliates were monitored for a year and epiphytic ciliates were sampled during summer 2011 in concordance with the
PMID 23850124

Japanese Journal

奄美大島における保全上重要な亜熱帯照葉樹林の指標候補としての大径木

保全生態学研究 20(2), 147-157, 2015-11-30
NAID 110010041485

Changes in epiphyte diversity in declining forests : implications for conservation and restoration

Landscape and ecological engineering : official journal of the International Consortium of Landscape and Ecological Engineering (ICLEE) 11(2), 283-291, 2015-07
NAID 40020539735