Fig. 3 Mean percentage of species found in a single subsamples, forest- or habitat type relative to the total number of species found in the study region The Mantel test of Sørensen’s indices among taxonomic groups showed significant positive correlations for nearly all groups (lichens excluded) in the terrestrial habitat, whereas only very low correlations were found in the epiphytic habitat (Table 3). The only significant correlation of lichens was with epiphytic ferns. Table 3

Correlations (R values) between similarity matrices of Sørensen’s (Bray Curtis) index of epiphytic (E) and terrestrial (T) species compositions per plot between the four study groups BGJ398 in vitro   Lichens Liverworts Mosses E T E T E T Ferns 0.15* – 0.13* 0.25** 0.18** 0.37***

Lichens     −0.13 – −0.01 – Liverworts         0.12 0.50*** * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001 Discussion phosphatase inhibitor library Forest structure and microclimate have been identified as principal drivers of diversity of ferns, bryophytes and lichens in tropical forests (Richards 1984; Sipman and Harris 1989; Wolseley and Aguirre-Hudson 1997; Holz and Gradstein 2005; Sporn et al. 2009) For terrestrial ferns, in addition, soil characters play an important role (Kluge et al. 2006). This is the first study that compares patterns of alpha and beta diversity among mosses, liverworts, ferns, and lichens in a tropical montane forest. We also separated epiphytic and terrestrial assemblages as well as forests occurring on ridge and slope because of the different environmental conditions of these habitats. Alpha diversity The epiphytic habitat was significantly richer in species than the terrestrial habitat. The taxonomic groups varied in their occurrence in the different habitat types. Whereas mosses were most species-rich in the terrestrial habitat, liverworts, Alectinib chemical structure ferns and lichens were most diverse in the epiphytic habitat. Slope forests were generally richer in species than ridges forests. We presume that this pattern is linked to differences in structure between the two forest types. Probably, the higher trees

in slope forests provide more varied and more favorable microhabitat conditions as well as more space for different species to coexist (Mandl et al. 2008), (unpubl.data). Overall, on average only 5% (±31% SD) of the variance in species richness of one taxonomic group could be predicted by species richness of another. Considering only the epiphytic habitat, this value increased to 15% (±20%). However, these mean values conceal a high level of variation. Patterns of alpha diversity were highly congruent for ferns, liverworts, and mosses in the epiphytic habitat (R² = 0.28–0.41), and for ferns and liverworts to a lesser degree in the terrestrial habitat (R² = 0.28). Thirty two percentage of variance in epiphytic species richness of a given group was explained by other taxa (lichens omitted).