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Bacteria have been called the “unseen majority” in nature. Leaves of higher plants comprise perhaps the largest bacterial substrate on earth, yet we know surprisingly little about the bacteria that occupy these spaces. The shaded understory of tropical forests is likely a “hotspot” for bacteria because water availability and humidity are high and UV radiation is low. Ultimately, these communities may be critical mediators of plant performance among co-occurring woody species and ultimately contribute to plant species distributions at the community level. In this dissertation, I (Chapter 2) review the ecology and behavior of bacteria that reside on the phyllosphere (on and inside leaves) and outline testable hypotheses to empirically evaluate the potential ecological implications of foliar bacteria. Moreover, I conducted a major effort to test interrelated hypotheses regarding the distribution, impact, and identity of foliar …