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Descriptive Information
Epiphyte Density In the cypress dome, epiphytes grow rampant on just about every tree. These rootless plants cling to the tree bark, getting their nutrients from air, dust, rain, and dew. We decided to try to determine if there are any trends in epiphyte growth in the context of tree height and location. The dome is shaped by taller trees being in the center and smaller trees growing on the edges. A road runs through the middle of the dome we observed. We randomly selected a total of 9 trees that were all about 30 ft. tall. Then we counted the number of epiphytes in the bottom 10 ft. of a tree, the middle 10 ft., and the top 10 feet. We tried to select trees from a variety of locations on both sides of the road. Observation One species seems to predominate on a tree. If any other species are present on this tree, they are scattered and few in number. The epiphytes in the first and second 10 foot sections were mainly located on the trunk of the tree. In the third 10 feet, the epiphytes grew mostly on the branches. In general, the first 10 ft. had the highest number of epiphytes. For trees in the center, the first 10 feet had the highest number of epiphytes and the third 10 ft. increment had the least number of epiphytes. For trees on the edges, the first 10 feet again had the highest number of epiphytes and the second 10 ft. had the least number of epiphytes. Only one sample tree deviated from these generalizations. |
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