TY - JOUR
TI - Ciliate Community Structure in Bromeliads of Different Types of Vegetation in Eastern Mexico
AU - Durán-Ramirez, Carlos Alberto
AU - Mayén-Estrada, Rosaura
AU - Romero-Niembro, Víctor Manuel
TI - Ciliate Community Structure in Bromeliads of Different Types of Vegetation in Eastern Mexico
AB - 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.
VL - 2019
IS - Volume 58, Issue 3
PY - 2019
SN - 0065-1583
C1 - 1689-0027
SP - 155
EP - 165
DO - 10.4467/16890027AP.19.015.11916
UR - https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/acta-protozoologica/article/ciliate-community-structure-in-bromeliads-of-different-types-of-vegetation-in-eastern-mexico
KW - Neotropics
KW - phytotelma
KW - ciliates