Resumo

CACH-PEREZ, Manuel J.; ANDRADE, José Luis  e  REYES-GARCIA, Casandra. Susceptibility of epiphytic bromeliads to climate change. Bot. sci [online]. 2014, vol.92, n.2, pp.157-168. ISSN 2007-4476.

Epiphytic bromeliads are one of the most threatened groups of plants by global climate change due to its high sensitivity to environmental variation. In this review we discuss the adaptations that epiphytic bromeliads have to face adverse environmental conditions. Also, to provide an overview of their vulnerability, we describe with examples, the physiological responses of these plants (mainly epiphytic bromeliads in dry forests of the Yucatan Peninsula) to the variation in water availability, light and environmental temperature, as well as their morphological variation. The data analyzed suggests that epiphytic bromeliads distribution could change or disappear in some regions as a result of global climate change, which could have negative effects on the ecosystems that these plants inhabit, due to reduction in the introduction of nutrients, the availability of habitats for animals as well as in the overall forest biomass. Therefore, we suggest that current research on morpho-physiological variation of epiphytic bromeliads in response to environmental variation is essential and urgent to generate information that contributes to the conservation of these plants.

Palavras-chave : Crassulacean acid metabolism; dry forests; morpho-physiological variation; Yucatan.