Figure 1.
Map of the study area and location of the four sampling stations (1–4).
The grey area delineates the inselberg site (maximum elevation = 430 m asl).
Figure 2.
The five species of tank-bromeliads sampled during this study (A = Guzmania lingulata, B = Vriesea pleiosticha, C = Aechmea bromeliifolia, D = Vriesea splendens, E = Catopsis berteroniana).
Table 1.
Main characteristics of the five bromeliad species sampled during the study at the Nouragues station (French Guiana) in April 2008.
Figure 3.
Mean abundances of algae according to the position of the foliar chamber (black and white bars) or regardless of the position of the foliar chamber (hatch marks).
Hatch marks with the same letter indicate no significant difference (Mann-Whitney pairwise comparisons, P>0.05) between species. Black and white bars marked with an asterisk indicate significant within-species differences between the central pool and the outer axils (Mann-Whitney pairwise comparisons, P<0.05). Gl = Guzmania lingulata, Vp = Vriesea pleiosticha, Ab = Aechmea bromeliifolia, Vs = Vriesea splendens, and Cb = Catopsis berteroniana.
Figure 4.
Mean biomass of microbial communities in five species of tank-bromeliads.
Bars marked with the same letter indicate no significant difference in total biomass (Mann-Whitney pairwise comparisons, P>0.05). Values in parentheses indicate the mean relative contribution (%) of algae to total microbial biomass. Gl = Guzmania lingulata, Vp = Vriesea pleiosticha, Ab = Aechmea bromeliifolia, Vs = Vriesea splendens, and Cb = Catopsis berteroniana.
Figure 5.
Growth (white bars) or mortality (black bars) rates of microorganisms determined from changes in densities during the 24-h experiment.
Treatments are: (A) control and (B) with mosquito larvae. Values are the means of four replicates. Asterisks in (B) indicate significant differences in the values relative to (A) (One way ANOVA, *P<0.05, **P<0.01).