RESILIENCE TO ANTHROPOGENIC DISTURBANCE, CORDILLERA ORIENTAL, COLOMBIA En bosques secos de roble las epífitas vasculares muestran resistencia a la alteración humana, Cordillera Oriental, Colombia

We compared the richness and biomass of vascular epiphytesin six seasonally semi deciduousoak (Quercus humboldiii) forest fragmentsof varying structure, using the SVERA protocol. Bromeliads dominated epiphyticvegetation in terms of richness, 10 out of a total of 17 species, and biomass (98%), but overall epiphyte community developmentwas poor in comparison with neotropical wet mountain forests. Epiphyterichness and biomass was similar in all fragments, except one bottom-valley fragment, despite large differences in anthropogenic-induced forest structure. We hypothesize that epiphyteresilience to disturbance in these dry oak forest fragmentsis due to tolerance of the local epiphytespecies to desiccation, overriding micro-climatic differences between forest fragmentsof different structure.