Differences in Epiphyte Community Composition between Ornamental and Native Hardwoods in Urban Vancouver

Epiphytes are an integral part of many ecosystems and have been shown to be good indicators of biodiversity and the effects of environmental stressors. Despite their ubiquity, very little work has been done on how mosses and lichens (the most abundant epiphytes in our study area) adapt to urban environments. Our study seeks to address this deficit by investigating the differences in epiphytic community composition on a selection of ornamental and native hardwoods within urban Vancouver. We tallied bryophytes and lichens growing on the trunks of four genera of ornamental hardwood (Acer, Liquidambar, Prunus, and Quercus) and two species of native hardwood (Alnus rubra and Prunus emarginata) using a grid to estimate the relative proportions of each epiphyte per tree. We then calculated beta diversity values to measure community compositional similarity across genera and between native and ornamental trees. We recorded a total of 14 lichens and 8 bryophytes. We found little difference between the epiphytic communities of different ornamental genera, but a significant difference between the epiphytic communities of ornamental and native trees. Our results show that the epiphytes on ornamental trees represent a distinct ecological community from that of native trees.Science, Faculty ofUnreviewedUndergraduat