How Tropical Epiphytes at the Eden Project Contribute to Rainforest Canopy Science

Julian Donald,M.D Farnon Ellwood,Don Murray,Pete Maxfield

doi:10.24823/sibbaldia.2016.188

Julian Donald, M.D Farnon Ellwood + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.24823/sibbaldia.2016.188

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Abstract

Understanding the ecological patterns and ecosystem processes of tropical rainforest canopies is becoming increasingly urgent in the face of widespread deforestation. However, accessing rainforest canopies is far from simple, and performing manipulative experiments in the canopy is particularly challenging. Botanic gardens provide an ideal ‘halfway house’ between field experiments and controlled laboratory conditions. As an ideal venue for testing equipment and refining ideas, botanic gardens also provide scientists with a direct route to public engagement, and potentially to research impact. Here we describe the ‘fernarium’, an adjustable canopy research platform for the standardisation, manipulation and detailed study of epiphytic bird’s nest ferns (Asplenium nidus) at the Eden Project in Cornwall. The fernarium provides a platform not only for the scientific study of bird’s nest ferns, but for public engagement, science communication and a wider understanding of the urgent environmental issues surrounding tropical rainforests. We include some preliminary results from an experiment in which the microbial community of a fern soil at the Eden Project was found to be similar in composition to that of a fern from lowland tropical rainforest in Malaysian Borneo. This study illustrates how preliminary experiments in an indoor rainforest can inform experimentaltechniques and procedures fundamental to the scientific study of genuine rainforest canopies.

Highlights

The challenge of rainforest canopy scienceTropical rainforests are some of the most biodiverse yet threatened regions on the planet (Myers et al, 2000; Achard et al, 2002)
The Eden Project can receive as many as 13,000 visitors per day, and from their central positon in the biome, the fernarium experiments are seen by large numbers of people
In addition to its central location, the fernarium captures the attention of the public owing to its size, its unusual shape in the form of a pentagon and the fact that it is raised above the ground

Summary

Introduction

The challenge of rainforest canopy scienceTropical rainforests are some of the most biodiverse yet threatened regions on the planet (Myers et al, 2000; Achard et al, 2002). Understanding the way in which rainforests function, in response to environmental disturbance, is crucial (Fayle et al, 2015a). Rainforest canopies in particular are not well understood, despite being critically important in influencing the world’s climate, and to global carbon and nitrogen cycles (Lowman & Rinker, 2004). D. FA RNONEL LW O O D of these ecosystems are increasing as a result of advances in canopy access techniques (Lowman & Schowalter, 2012), they remain difficult environments within which to perform scientific research. The study of canopy soils in particular can be very challenging due to the sensitivity of soil microbes to environmental disturbance (Nannipieri et al, 2003; Nannipieri et al, 2012)

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