Diversifying growth forms in tropical forest restoration: Enrichment with vascular epiphytes

Ecological restoration of forests is largely favored by tree planting, often leaving out other important growth forms. Despite their relevant ecological roles, in restoration plantations, epiphytic richness rarely reaches values found in reference ecosystems. At the same time, epiphytes are wasted when forests are cleared for infrastructure projects, instead of being properly relocated. The goal of this study is to improve the knowledge for epiphytic relocation and enrichment, in restoration forests. We seek to answer the following questions: (i) Over a one year period, can six species of epiphytes survive, attach to phorophytes and reproduce, after being transplanted to host trees? (ii) Is epiphyte development after transplantation affected by species of phorophytes, bark roughness, canopy cover and position of transplantation? (iii) Is performance of relocated epiphytes species specific? For this purpose, 360 adult individuals of vascular epiphytes (Bromeliaceae, Cactaceae and Orchidaceae) were transplanted onto host trees located in two semi-deciduous seasonal forests in the Atlantic Forest of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Epiphytes achieved high survival rates after one year (55.2-100% of individuals) and all species presented structures for either sexual or asexual reproduction. Their overall development was enhanced when we carried out transplantations at the beginning of wet season and using sisal string to attach epiphytes and palm fiber to cover phorophyte's bark, which were relevant factors attributing to the success of transplantations. Species of phorophyte was not an attributing factor to the successful development of transplanted individuals, which only showed slight responses to conditions they provided. However, responses among epiphytes were species-specific, demonstrating the importance of studying their biology in order to successfully enrich restoration forests.