To understand distributional and ecological aspects of ciliates living in tank bromeliads, we analyzed the ciliate community structure in fifteen different epiphytic and terrestrial bromeliad species from different types of vegetation. Sixty-nine samples were collected from plants of genera Aechmea, Bromelia, Pseudalcantarea and Tillandsia in seven localities in eastern Mexico during 2014 and 2015. The sampling localities covered an altitude gradient from 0 till 2 210 m ASL. We found 24 ciliate species and through the application of a principal component analysis, three clusters that correspond to several types of vegetation were obtained with regard to ciliate and bromeliad species. We recorded the largest number of ciliate species in localities of montane cloud forest, and also the largest number of ciliate species endemic to tank bromeliads, like Glaucomides bromelicola, inhabiting bromeliads from this forest. We observed the presence of ciliates in Bromelia pinguin that possesses a weakly developed phytotelm. The results of our study indicate that the species composition of ciliates inhabiting tank bromeliads depends on such correlated environmental factors like altitude ASL, temperature and type of vegetation.
