Mineral dynamics in Spanish moss, Tillandsia usneoides L. (Bromeliaceae), from Central Florida, USA

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 321; no. 1; pp. 165 - 172
• Main Authors: Husk, George J., Weishampel, John F., Schlesinger, William H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier B.V 05.04.2004; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Aerosol; Analysis methods; Analysis of Variance; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Applied sciences; Atmospheric pollution; Biological and medical sciences; Bryophyta; Calcium - analysis; Central Florida; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Effects of pollution and side effects of pesticides on plants and fungi; Environmental Monitoring; Epiphyte; Exact sciences and technology; Florida; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Land use change; Magnesium - analysis; Metals, Heavy - analysis; Phorophyte; Plant nutrition; Pollution; Potassium - analysis; Principal Component Analysis; Spanish moss; Spectrophotometry, Atomic; Tillandsia - chemistry; Tillandsia usneoides; Florida; United States; North America; America; USA, Florida; Phorophyte; Plant nutrition; Aerosol; Land use change; Spanish moss; Epiphyte; Central Florida; Elementary analysis; Monocotyledones; Chemical analysis; Troposphere; Long term variation; Pinus; Ion composition; Biological monitoring; Taxodium; Dicotyledones; Host plant; Angiospermae; Gymnospermae; Bromeliaceae; Biological indicator; Air quality; Fagaceae; Quercus; Correlation analysis; Air pollution; Coniferales; Spermatophyta; Performance; Principal component analysis
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2003.09.001

Epiphytes absorb water and nutrients from the atmosphere through precipitation and dry deposition and from their hosts through stemflow and throughfall. These commensals have been used as biological indicators or monitors of air quality. To measure temporal changes in Spanish moss ( Tillandsia usneoides) mineral concentrations, we revisited sites in Central Florida where this epiphyte was collected and analyzed in 1973/1974. After 24–25 years, using comparable methods, concentrations of Ca, Mg, K and Cu decreased in the tissue samples while Fe increased. These declines in base cations corresponded to global atmospheric decreases. In the earlier study, patterns of elemental concentrations in Spanish moss corresponded to the host tree categories primarily reflecting a P gradient that increased from pine ( Pinus spp.) to cypress ( Taxodium spp.) to hardwood (e.g. Quercus spp.) hosts. Such host-specific associations were mostly absent from the recent study, suggesting that epiphytic preferences based on the chemistry of phorophyte leachates have become less important in this region, perhaps, resulting from local (suburbanization) or regional (atmospheric composition) changes.