Anthropogenic and hurricane disturbances had similar negative effects on epiphytic Tillandsia species in a tropical dry forest

Abstract

The distribution of epiphytes in tropical dry forests has been associated with the availability and traits of their phorophytes. Thus, strong disturbances of the phorophyte community are expected to affect the abundance and composition of epiphytes. Here, we address the effects of anthropogenic and hurricane disturbances on the richness and abundance of Tillandsia species in a tropical dry forest of Mexico. Tillandsia species were sampled at sites corresponding to early, intermediate, and late stages of succession in 2007 and 2016, before and after two successive large hurricanes, Jova (October 2011; Category 2) and Patricia (October 2015; Category 5). Tillandsia species richness and abundance were greater in the late successional stage compared with intermediate and early stages, which did not differ from each other. In addition, both richness and abundance were positively correlated with the abundance of large trees. Tillandsia species richness and abundance were greater before than after hurricanes. We conclude that only old-growth forests or secondary forests in late successional stages can support large populations of Tillandsia species, probably because their recovery time is dependent on the presence of large host trees that provide higher quality substrates. Our results also demonstrated that catastrophic hurricane disturbances are important density-independent factors that decrease the species richness and abundance of Tillandsia epiphytes in tropical dry forests.