Long-term dynamics of an epiphyte community - pattern and process

植物群落的结构和动态背后的机制是激烈争论的。两个对立的概念强调生态位解释或分散（=中性）过程。拟议的项目利用了2002年完成的对巴拿马原始低地森林中约13 000种脉管附生植物的全面普查的独特机会。该项目通过使用塔式起重机进入森林的各个层次，将直接记录这一群落在时间和空间上的动态（“模式”），并使用实验和观察方法研究基本机制（“过程”）。要测试的基本假设一个确定性的垂直结构中的附生植物群落，但很大程度上的生态等价的物种组成不同的垂直公会。

The mechanisms behind the structure and dynamics of plant communities are hotly debated. Two opposing concepts emphasize either niche explanations or, alternatively, dispersal (=neutral) processes. The proposed project takes advantage of the unique opportunity of a complete census of some 13,000 vascular epiphytes in a pristine Panamanian lowland forest that was finished in 2002. Gaining access by use of a tower crane to all strata of the forest, this project will directly document the dynamics of this community in time and space (“pattern”) and use experimental and observational approaches to study the underlying mechanisms (“process”). The basic hypothesis to be tested assumes a deterministic vertical structure in the epiphyte community, but a large degree of ecological equivalence among the species comprising different vertical guilds.