Data from: Association between rainfall seasonality and the flowering of epiphytic plants in a Neotropical montane forest

The association between the reproductive phenology of epiphytic communities with environmental and ecological factors remains largely unexplored. Because epiphytes depend on environmental moisture, seasonal changes in moisture conditions likely act as the primary determinants of their reproductive timing. We examined whether water limitation or pollinator competition structures the flowering phenologies of an epiphytic community in a seasonal mountain forest in Costa Rica. Additionally, we addressed the environmental factors that might trigger floral induction. Using a 24-month dataset of bimonthly flowering records from 104 species, we found high seasonality of flowering at the species level but somewhat lower seasonality at the community level. The flowering mid-dates of most epiphytes, particularly from monocotyledonous species, occurred during the wettest months, as predicted if water limitation structures flowering. The increased moisture and nutrient availability during the rainy season give epiphytes the resources needed to complete floral development and anthesis, and later fruit and seed maturation. The observed flowering pattern of epiphytes coincides with reproductive patterns of terrestrial herbs and shrubs from seasonal tropical ecosystems, and suggests shared constraints to sexual reproduction in both ecological guilds under similar climatic conditions. In contrast, flowering patterns of congeneric epiphytes in the same pollination guild mostly did not follow the expectations of a pollinator competition scenario. Finally, we discuss the possible combined effect of precipitation, temperature, and daily insolation on floral induction of epiphytic plants.附生群落（epiphytic community）的繁殖物候（reproductive phenology）与环境及生态因子之间的关联，迄今仍未得到充分探索。由于附生植物（epiphyte）依赖环境湿度，湿度条件的季节变化可能是调控其繁殖时序的核心决定因素。本研究以哥斯达黎加一处季节性山地森林中的附生群落为研究对象，探究水分限制或传粉者竞争是否调控其开花物候（flowering phenology）；此外，本研究还探讨了可能触发花诱导（floral induction）的环境因子。通过分析涵盖104个物种、为期24个月且每两月开展一次的开花记录数据集，我们发现：物种水平上的开花季节性极强，但群落水平的季节性则相对较弱。多数附生植物（尤其是单子叶植物（monocotyledonous）类群）的开花盛期集中在最湿润的月份，这与“水分限制调控开花”的理论预测相符。雨季中湿度与养分可利用性的提升，为附生植物完成花发育、开花（anthesis）以及后续的果实与种子成熟提供了必要资源。本研究观测到的附生植物开花模式，与季节性热带生态系统中陆生草本和灌木的繁殖模式高度一致，这表明在相似气候条件下，两类生态功能群（ecological guild）的有性繁殖面临共同的限制因素。与之相反，同一传粉功能群内同属附生植物的开花模式，大多不符合传粉者竞争情景的理论预期。最后，我们探讨了降水、温度与每日日照时数可能共同对附生植物花诱导产生的调控作用。