Attached epiphytes often make important contributions to total primary production in seagrass meadows. Additionally, they may increase the spatial complexity of seagrass habitats. Experiments conducted using artificial seagrass units (ASU) manipulated both epiphytic structure and epiphytic food resources. Previous work suggested that the increase in faunal density associated with epiphytes was ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The gametophytes of most homosporous ferns are cordate-thalloid in shape. Some are strap- or ribbon-shaped and have been assumed to have evolved from terrestrial cordate shapes as an adaptation to epiphytic habitats. The aim of the present study was to clarify the morphological evolution of the strap-shaped gametophyte of microsoroids (Polypodiaceae) by precise analysis of t...

Studies on the development dynamics and the physiological properties of heterotrophic bacteria growing on the surface of the yellow waterlily {Nuphar luteum L.) during the plants' development cycle were carried out. It was stated that the number of the epiphytic bacteria is different in the examined sections of the plant. The number is higher on bottom parts of petioles and rhizomes but lower o...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The advantage of clonal integration (resource sharing between connected ramets of clonal plants) varies and a higher degree of integration is expected in more stressful and/or more heterogeneous habitats. Clonal facultative epiphytes occur in both forest canopies (epiphytic habitats) and forest understories (terrestrial habitats). Because environmental conditions, especially...

A study on the occurrence and chitinolytic activity of planktonic, benthic and epiphytic bacteria was carried out in the Moty Bay of Lake Jeziorak near Ilawa. The greatest number of chitinolytic bacteria occurred on macrophytes. In terms of percentages, the chitinolytic bacteria share among heterotrophic bacteria was much greater in epiphytic and planktonic bacteria than in benthic ones. When c...

The co-occurrence pattern of epiphytic lichen communities was evaluated relative to microenvironmental heterogeneity along an edge-interior forest gradient. We collected data on the occurrence of 57 epiphytic lichen species from 452 plots in a Mediterranean forest remnant. We used two realistic null models to test for non-randomness in the structure of epiphytic lichen communities and generaliz...

The bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv syringae B728a (PsyB728a) uses a type III secretion system (T3SS) to inject effector proteins into plant cells, a process that modulates the susceptibility of different plants to infection. Analysis of GREEN FLUORESCENT PROTEIN-expressing PsyB728a after spray inoculation without additives under moderate relative humidity conditions permitted (1) a detailed ...

Characterizing the architecture of bipartite networks is increasingly used as a framework to study biotic interactions within their ecological context and to assess the extent to which evolutionary constraint shape them. Orchid mycorrhizal symbioses are particularly interesting as they are viewed as more beneficial for plants than for fungi, a situation expected to result in an asymmetry of bio...

Crustose corallines, crustose and erect brown algae, and sessile animals are major components of the epiphytic community of the Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile. Production, biomass, and specific composition of this epiphyte-seagrass association are impacted by anthropogenic increase of nutrient load in this oligotrophic area. In this context, nitrogen uptake by P. oceanica...

Latitudinal gradients that involve macroclimatic changes can affect the diversity of several groups of plants and animals. Here we examined the effect of a latitudinal gradient on epiphytic communities on a single host species (Fagus sylvatica) to test the core-periphery theory. The latitudinal span considered, covering two biogeographic regions, is associated with major changes in rainfall dur...