On a recent trip to New Caledonia I managed to spot a few epiphytes and vines. Although I didn't get to explore any old-growth forest, it was interesting to see some similarities and differences to NZ flora in the species that I did encounter. This island cousin of ours surely has a lot more to discover. Please feel free to post comments or photos if you have spent any time epiphyting in New Caledonia!
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In a previous post, I threw the idea of photographing an entire NZ native tree out into the online world. My dream is to produce something similar to the Nat Geo portraits of 2009 & 2012 right here in Aotearoa, New Zealand: Well, the idea took off and now I'd like to introduce you to the New Zealand Tree Project. A small team of scientists, photographers/videographers and tree climbers will be setting out in March 2015 to capture a large native tree through digital and print media. You can find out a lot more on our website. We are currently hunting for the perfect subject tree so please let us know if you have suggestions... preferably a big beauty in the North Island with a fairly clear view from at least one side for the camera rigging. We are also currently on the hunt for sponsors and supporters so please let us know if you have any fundraising ideas or would like to make a contribution. A few avenues that we are going to target are judged on social media popularity so if you think this project is a good idea please "like" it on facebook.
As always, your support is greatly appreciated! That's right. The pre-release special on the Field Guide to New Zealand's Epiphytes, Vines & Mistletoes ends very soon. The book is almost all finished and will be on its way to the printers next week! We have been proofing for the last few weeks on a rough copy that the printhouse created and it has sure been flipped through a few times. Check out the state of this poor thing now: Finishing touches over the next few days include formatting the index, checking font colours and of course, the dreaded spell check! To secure your copy at the special price of $35 (+$5p&p) follow the ordering instructions on the flyer BEFORE November 10th: After the 10th of November the price will return to $45 (+$5p&p) and won't be guaranteed to arrive before December 25th. Thank you to those who have placed their orders - we will be posting them out to you between the 12th and 15th of December.
To read more about the book how it has eventuated, check out the latest newsletter of the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network (page 12). In the meantime, here are a few pictures from behind the scenes of the Field Guide to NZ's Epiphytes, Vines & Mistletoes: Drymoanthus adversus or the "green fleshy tree orchid" is much more exciting than either of its names suggest! This wonderful, delicate orchid is rather small, with leaves usually only numbering 2 or 3 that grow to around 6 centimetres in length. It is a close friend of flaky-barked host trees like tōtara and can often be found holding tight with fleshy white roots. It is more common on the North rather than South Island where it is currently (October) in flower: The green or greenish-white flowers of Drymoanthus adversus occur in bunches (inflorescences) that can be up to 8 cm long and usually sit just beneath the leaves. The flowers are only 4 mm it width and have purplish flecks. Sometimes you can find the stalks of old flower bunches still on the plants. Pollinated flowers develop into capsules that enclose many thousands of seeds with curled, woolly hairs. Everything about this species makes it hard to spot, especially if its host is also home to a lot of moss and lichen. Individual Drymoanthus adversus plants can occasionally create large clumps with many leaves: The NZ Native Orchid Group have some great photos of this species on their website. Here are a few more of ours: Feel free to share any of your own photos of this neat little plant, or maybe suggestions for a better name than "fleshy, green tree orchid"?!
The idea was born sometime around 2010 after a team of MSc students at the University of Waikato spent their summers studying epiphytes. These keen students realised that there was a need for a single information source on the epiphytes, vines and mistletoes of New Zealand after they got rather tired of lugging 5 different field guides around the forest. At the time, each book covered a few of the species they were coming across; one for the ferns, one for the orchids, a few for the vines etc. The idea became a reality when the Environmental Research Institute (ERI) at the University of Waikato gave it the backing it needed. Three years on and with the help of 43 photographers and 10 reviewers, including Professors John Dawson and Gerhard Zotz, it is almost done! The Field Guide to New Zealand's Epiphytes, Vines and Mistletoes by Catherine Kirby features 268 pages, 103 species and 320 superb photographs. It is being released at a special launch on the 11th of December 2014. Preparing the field guide has been a fun and interesting journey. The species information was gathered from a wide range of sources including the NZ Flora series, NZPCN, Journal Articles and books. This information was then complimented by personal observations and expert contributions. Each species description includes details on the key features of the plant, its habitat, flowering and fruiting times (where applicable), threats and identification clues. Many people from around New Zealand and the world were extremely kind in donating their photos to the publication. The full colour, high quality images are essential for identification and make the book very user-friendly. It is hoped that this field guide will be a catalyst and tool for more people to learn about our amazing epiphytes, vines and mistletoes. Please see the following flyer or the field guide page for a pre-release special offer (available 20th October to 10th November 2014) if you fancy your own copy:
Recent research by Maria Zachwatowicz and colleagues from Warsaw University in Poland has investigated urban populations of Viscum album mistletoes in the city of Warsaw. The aims of this study were to:
The distribution and abundance of mistletoes on host trees was surveyed for three winters in a row. Analysis of this data showed that:
The researchers conclude that Viscum album has a wide range of ecological adaptations that allow it to thrive in city environments. They suggest that it could therefore be labelled as a synanthrophic species: "plants that live near, and benefit from, an association with humans and the somewhat artificial habitats that humans create around them". How does the mistletoe situation in New Zealand compare? Well, most of our mistletoes (Alepis flavida, Peraxilla tetrapetala, Peraxilla colensoi, Tupeia antarctica) are actually in decline due to human-induced changes to their habitats. However, pirita (Ileostylus micranthus) seems to be doing ok and can be found, for example, in the Dunedin Gardens and Cemetery:
We've got a quiz for you this week; can you match the photos of fruit from different epiphytes, vines and mistletoes to the correct species? Hint: not all of the fruit in these photos is ripe. All photos (c) C. Kirby. Species:
a. Kohia (Passiflora tetrandra) b. Tāwhiri karo (Pittosporum cornifolium) c. Pikirangi (Peraxilla tetrapetala) d. Pekapeka (Winika cunninghamii) e. Kahakaha (Collospermum hastatum) f. Kōwharawhara (Astelia solandri) g. Pirita (Alepis flavida) h. Tāpia (Tupeia antarctica) i. Puawānanga (Clematis paniculata) j. Kareao (Ripogonum scandens) Its interesting to see the range of fruit and associated dispersal mechanisms from these plants. How well did your matching go? Here are the answers. Highlight the following with your cursor (best done on the website rather than email): 1-j 2-f 3-e 4-h 5-c 6-b 7-i 8-g 9-a 10-d Last month I was lucky enough to be part of a road trip from Christchurch to Auckland via Akaroa, Kaikoura, Wellington and Napier. It was a good opportunity to see some of the canopy flora and fauna in these different places and I've included some of the most interesting finds in this photo blog: This photo was captured at a definite high point of the trip. I was drawn to these tree lucerne in a reserve near Akaroa because of the flock of kereru feeding on them. Of course I was then stoked to discover that they weren't the only ones getting a free meal from this exotic plant: spot the pirita (Ileostylus micranthus) in the bottom left! Photo: C. Kirby.
A new paper titled "Epiphytes improve host plant water use by microenvironment modification" has been published in Functional Ecology by Daniel Stanton and colleagues. These researchers investigated the impact of epiphytic lichens and Tillandsia species on their hosts in deserts of Chile and Peru. Plants in these deserts depend on fog for water input and the authors aimed to find out if the very large epiphyte communities in these areas affect ecosystem water cycling. Key findings of this study were:
The following schematic illustrates the range of possible influences that epiphytes have on an ecosystem water cycle - see caption for details. Schematic of the water cycle through trees in the absence (left) or presence (right) of epiphytes. Epiphytes will directly affect fog interception by the canopy (by increasing surface area) and canopy evapotranspiration rates (by increasing boundary layer). Greater retention of water in the canopy by epiphytes results in reduced throughfall. Stanton et al. 2014.
In their conclusion, the authors encourage more studies of this nature: "Experimental removal of epiphytes is logistically challenging; however, the considerable impacts on host plants we observed suggest that more such experiments, in other ecosystems, may be necessary in studies of forest hydrology. The conceptual framework we present establishes a context for evaluating the relative positive and negative effects of epiphytes on hosts and shows that epiphytes are likely to have significant effects on host plants and ecosystems. This consideration is important to the accurate modelling of climate–vegetation feedbacks and ecohydrology of ecosystems with large epiphyte communities" These desert ecosystems are very different from most of the epiphyte habitats in New Zealand. Having said that, it is more than likely that a similar study would find significant impacts of epiphytes on forest water cycles here. This is especially true in the case of water-impounding nest epiphytes (e.g. Collospermum species) which seem to feed large and diverse canopy communities.
There is nothing more magical in a documentary than David Attenborough talking about epiphytes! Here is a BBC video that really captures some of the fascination around these plants:
Attenborough and epiphytes: www.bbc.co.uk/nature/adaptations/Epiphyte#p006ry0k And here are some unexpectedly abundant epiphytes in the UK: Dartmoor epiphytes: www.bbc.co.uk/nature/adaptations/Epiphyte#p007zjq5 And finally, we found this relatively new one about some epiphyte research in Indonesia. There is a blank bit at the end but the rest of it is really interesting: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIA2cEW65DI Enjoy :) |
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Catherine KirbyI work with NZ's native vascular epiphytes at the University of Waikato. I completed an MSc on epiphyte ecology and the shrub epiphyte Griselinia lucida and have recently published the Field Guide to NZ's Epiphytes, Vines & Mistletoes. Categories
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