Monteverde Institute: Tropical Ecology and Conservation
Alternative Title
La disponibilidad de nutrientes y la abundancia de protistas en bromelias del bosque nuboso
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Publication Date
December 2006
Abstract
Protists are microscopic organisms which play a vital role in nutrient degradation in tank bromeliads (Carrias et al. 2001). Their communities provide good subjects of study for the effects of nutrient availability in an ecosystem. One hypothesis says that the number of individuals that an ecosystem harbors is determined by the total energy that enters. This study tested the prediction that there will be a relationship between nutrient availability and abundance of protists in tank bromeliads. Data were collected among 25 bromeliads located within the Monteverde Cloud forest, Cerro Plano, Costa Rica and the following parameters were estimated: the number of protists and nutrient resources (canopy density, water volume, tank diameter, and detritus dry weight). Regressions analyses showed there were only significance between detritus weight by water volume and number of detritivores by number of photosynthetic protists. This study shows that none of the resources tested were significant in determining protist abundance in bromeliad tank communities, however, further study is needed.
Resumen
Los protistas son organismos microscópicos que desempeñan un papel vital en la degradación de nutrientes en el tanque de las bromelias (Carrias et al. 2001). Sus comunidades proporcionan buenos temas de estudio para los efectos de la disponibilidad de nutrientes en un ecosistema. Una hipótesis dice que el número de los individuos que un ecosistema abriga está determinado por la energía total que entra. Este estudio probó la predicción de que habrá una relación entre la disponibilidad y la abundancia de nutrientes de protistas en los tanques de las bromelias.
Keywords
Bromeliaceae, Protista, Natural resource management and policy, CIEE Fall 2006
Palabras claves
Manejo de recursos naturales y política, CIEE Otoño 2006
Extent
7 pages
Geographic Location
Monteverde Biological Station (Costa Rica); Cerro Plano (Puntarenas, Costa Rica)
Ubicación geográfica
Estación Biológica de Monteverde (Costa Rica)
Holding Location
Monteverde Institute
Language
English; Spanish
Media Type
Articles
Format
Digital Only
Identifier
M39-00183
Type
Book
Recommended Citation
Allen, Cierra Y., "Nutrient availability and protist abundance in cloud forest Bromeliads, December 2006" (2006). Monteverde Institute: Tropical Ecology and Conservation. 311.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/tropical_ecology/311
