3 June 2004
Insects, shoots and leaves
Forest canopies are among the richest and most threatened environments on Earth, yet little is known about the distribution of biomass in them. In a unique experiment — unique because it involved hauling 200-kilogram plants from the tree-tops in the forests of Borneo — a new estimate for the amount of invertebrate biomass in the rainforest canopy has been obtained that doubles the previous value. Bird's nest ferns grow as epiphytes (using the trees for support but not as a source of nutrients) in the rainforests of Southeast Asia. The larger examples of these ferns were found to contain a biomass of insects and other invertebrates similar to that found in the whole of the rest of the tree crown in which it was growing. This work suggests that epiphytes may be much more important players in the rainforest ecosystem than was thought, and makes them prime targets for conservation.
Doubling the estimate of invertebrate biomass
in a rainforest canopy
MARTIN D. F. ELLWOOD & WILLIAM A. FOSTER
Nature 429, 549–551 (2004); doi:10.1038/nature02560
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