Herpetofaunal community of a high canopy tank bromeliad ( Aechmea zebrina ) in the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve of Amazonian Ecuador, with comments on the use of “arboreal” in the herpetological literature.

摘要

Tank bromeliads provide microhabitat that supports a high diversity of organisms inthe harsh environment of tropical forest canopies. Most studies of organisms occupying tankbromeliads have focused on invertebrates found within bromeliads near or at ground level. Fewinvestigations of vertebrate communities utilizing this keystone resource are available. We describethe amphibian and reptile community occupying the high canopy tank bromeliad, Aechmea zebrina,in lowland rainforest of the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve in the Amazon Basin of Ecuador. We usedsingle-rope climbing techniques to sample a total of 160 A. zebrina bromeliads from 32 trees, atheights of 18.3 to 45.5 m above ground. We collected 10 metamorphosed anuran species, one gecko,one snake, and observed two species of lizard within bromeliads. Summary statistics for a suiteof environmental factors associated with herpetofauna in A. zebrina bromeliads are reported. Weestimated the density of anurans occupying A. zebrina communities and contrast these estimateswith anuran densities from tropical forest floor anuran studies. Finally, we discuss the use of theterm “arboreal” within the herpetological literature, and make recommendations for terminologyused to describe the vertical space occupied by a species or assemblage.