Diversity of Life on a Tree

A close-up shot of a mossy tree branch covered in various plants. Several green ferns are growing out of the wood, with one in the front showing rows of small brown dots (spores) on its underside. The branch is also covered in light green, leafy-looking lichen and thin, wispy strands of pale Spanish moss hanging down. The background is a blurry mix of green and brown from the rest of the forest.

Label: Diversity of Life on a Tree
Artist: Brendan Scherer
Description: This photograph shows an image of a branch of a Southern Live Oak (Quercus virginiana) covered in epiphytic growth. Epiphytes are organisms, especially other plants, microbes, fungi, or lichens, that grow on the surface of plants. These epiphytes often benefit their host plant by retaining water and attracting pollinators. There are three species of epiphytes in this photo. The small ferns are Resurrection Ferns (Pleopeltis polypodiales). The filamentous grey-green structures are Spanish Moss (Tillandsia usneoides), a relative of pineapple. Lastly, the wavy pale-green structures are a type of lichen. Lichens are composed of two or more species including a fungus and an algae. My research explores plant microbiomes, which are composed of a diverse collection of epiphytic microbes. The plant microbiome, like these macroscopic epiphytes, provides a host of benefits to the plant, though we are still beginning to understand the complexity of these dynamics.
Type: DSLR
Artist Affiliation: Graduate Student
Department: Biological Science
Area of Research: Microbial ecology, plant-microbe interactions
Date: 2017