A 30-year update of the climbers and vascular epiphytes inventory of the Cerro Ñielol Natural Monument (La Araucanía, Chile): a database.

This study updates the climbers and vascular epiphyte species list in the Cerro Ñielol Natural Monument, a small patch of forest under severe anthropogenic pressure. This protected area is characterised by floristic elements of the Mediterranean and temperate phytogeographic region of Chile, in a zone where forests have been severely deforested. The database includes the record of 45 species - including six species that were not recorded in the first inventory - in 211 records.The main novelty of this contribution is the systematic classification of species, on ten traits rarely reported in a floristic inventory: (i) species taxonomic identity (as usual), (ii) species abundance (number of stems and fronds), (iii) habit (herb, shrub, subshrub, tree), (iv) growth form (accidental epiphyte, epiphyte, vine, liana, terricolous), (v) climbing mechanism (tendrils, adhesive roots, twining, scrambling), (vi) microhabitat (fallen log, footpath slope, soil, stump, trunk), (vii) host species (where appropriate), (viii) host condition (live, woody debris, snag), (ix) host diameter at breast height (DBH) and (x) target species found over 2.3 m on trees.Thirty years after the first inventory conducted between 1980 and 1984, the climber assemblage has remained relatively stable over time, although there are some differences in species composition. Specifically, the climber Elytropuschilensis are recorded in the current inventory, but the Mitrariacoccinea (recorded in the first inventory) is not present. On the other hand, the epiphyte assemblage showed an increase in the species richness of filmy ferns, with five previously unrecorded species: Hymenophyllumcuneatum, H.dicranotrichum, H.pectinatum, H.peltatum and H.tunbrigense. One of the novel features was the presence of Sarmientascandens and Synammiafeuillei on a Pinusradiata D. Don tree. Additionally, the introduced species Acerpseudoplatanus is included, which is new to the Chilean vascular plant catalogue. All these data are available in the present manuscript.