Environmental Sciences Commons^™

Effects Of Nutrient Availability And Other Elevational Changes On Bromeliad Populations And Their Invertebrate Communities In A Humid Tropical Forest In Puerto Rico, Barbara A. Richardson, M. J. Richardson, Frederick Scatena, William H. Mcdowell

Frederick Scatena

Nutrient inputs into tank bromeliads were studied in relation to growth and productivity, and the abundance, diversity and biomass of their animal inhabitants, in three forest types along an elevational gradient. Concentrations of phosphorus, potassium and calcium in canopy-derived debris, and nitrogen and phosphorus in phytotelm water, declined with increasing elevation. Dwarf forest bromeliads contained the smallest amounts of debris/plant and lowest concentrations of nutrients in plant tissue. Their leaf turnover rate and productivity were highest and, because of high plant density, they comprised 12.8and contained 3.3 t ha ^-1 of water. Annual nutrient budgets indicated that these microcosms were …