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Epiphytes and Humans

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Plants on Plants – The Biology of Vascular Epiphytes

Part of the book series: Fascinating Life Sciences ((FLS))

Abstract

Epiphytes existed in forests and other vegetation long before the advent of human civilization and the current human domination of the globe. As part of the forest, epiphytes were affected by human activities without being the actual target, e.g., when slash-and-burn agriculture was used for subsistence. For a long time, however, humans have also been directly utilizing certain epiphytes, similar to many other natural resources, for curative purposes as well as adornment or in cultural activities. In the last decades, the human impact on the biosphere has increased to an alarming level which, not surprisingly, also affects epiphytes more and more. Both ongoing habitat destruction/deterioration and climate change urge us to understand the response of epiphytes to these changes and to develop appropriate conservation measures. Humans impact epiphytes not only by habitat destruction or overexploitation: the large-scale movements of plants and diaspores have frequently eliminated natural barriers for dispersal, raising the question of the potential invasiveness of epiphytes. Invasive species are often considered a major threat to global biodiversity—if this also applies to epiphytes is little understood.

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    Gerhard Zotz

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Zotz, G. (2016). Epiphytes and Humans. In: Plants on Plants – The Biology of Vascular Epiphytes. Fascinating Life Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39237-0_10

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