Height and phytotelm size affect the invertebrate communities of epiphytic bromeliads in the Amazon rainforest

O'Reilly‐Berkeley, Xaali ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6508-1230, Pazmiño‐Palomino, Alex, Hidalgo‐Cárdenas, Andrea, Trujillo‐Regalado, Sofía I., Mossman, Hannah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5958-5320, Rowntree, Jennifer ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8249-8057 and Preziosi, Richard ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0468-6655 (2025) Height and phytotelm size affect the invertebrate communities of epiphytic bromeliads in the Amazon rainforest. Ecological Entomology. ISSN 1365-2311

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Abstract

Tank bromeliads are found in rainforests across the Neotropics and harbour diverse invertebrate communities between their leaf axes. Various factors influence the invertebrate species richness and differences in composition in bromeliad phytotelmata, most notably, habitat size. However, there has been little work on invertebrate communities in bromeliads in western Amazonia or at different heights in the canopy. We collected 63 epiphytic bromeliads (Aechmea hoppii (Harms) L.B.Sm, A. nidularioides L.B.Sm) on the eastern edge of the Tropical Andes Biodiversity Hotspot in Ecuador and explored which biological and physical variables explained the differences in invertebrate composition among bromeliads. We extracted a total of 7524 individual aquatic and terrestrial macroinvertebrates and identified 300 morphospecies belonging to 27 orders, within the phyla Arthropoda, Annelida and Platyhelminthes. We recorded information on bromeliad location within the forest (height in canopy, primary or secondary forest), plant size (phytotelmata volume, base circumference, length of longest leaf), phytotelm pH and temperature and counted the number of leaves as a measure of habitat complexity. Overall, our results indicate that height in the canopy and phytotelm size explained statistically significant portions of the variation in different parts of the bromeliad community. Bromeliad size was positively correlated with alpha diversity of both terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates, whereas height in the canopy affected beta diversity. The sampling time of year in which bromeliads were collected affected the aquatic community, suggesting biological seasonality in the absence of climatic seasonality. By extending the height from the ground at which most bromeliad studies have been carried out, our work has highlighted the potential importance of vertical variation of bromeliad invertebrate communities throughout the canopy. Additionally, we fill in a geographic gap in this body of work.