A preliminary study of freshwater protozoa in tank bromeliads

Abstract

Bromeliads are common as epiphytes in warm neotropical forests (Benzing 1990). Species native to relatively wet forests impound water in a central cup and/or in seperate leaf axils. These tanks receive enough leaf litter and rainwater to support aquatic life (Maguire 1971). In these complex microcosms many groups of freshwater organisms ranging from algae, fungi, bacteria and protozoa through insects to frogs are represented and constitute considerable animal populations (Frank 1983, Laessle 1961, Maguire 1971, Picado 1913, Richardson 1999). Nutrients originating from the decomposition of litter and animal waste are absorbed by specialized trichomes on the bases of the leaves which form the tanks (Benzing 1980, 1990).