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Tank bromeliads: Nutritional supplements
The cisterns of some bromeliads do more than just store water. In these little
pools, a bustling ecosystem of insects, crustaceans, snails, spiders, frogs and
small reptiles can develop. There are more than 400 species of animals known to
inhabit bromeliad tanks!
So what does the bromeliad get from hosting all these houseguests?
It gets fertilizer from the excretory products of the animals’ metabolic processes.
The bromeliad absorbs water, and any nutrients dissolved in it, through specialized
scale-like structures. It’s too complicated to construct such a miniature ecosystem
here in the conservatory, so our gardeners intentionally add suitable nutrients to the
tanks of our bromeliads.
In the wild, though, a constant struggle for resources is being fought. It should come
as no surprise, then, that other plants try to forage for nutrients in the bromeliad
tanks. Some carnivorous plants even snatch small creatures straight from the pools!
For example, certain species of bladderwort send out long shoots from bromeliad to
bromeliad and catch tiny aquatic animals in their bladder-like traps.
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Tank bromeliads: Nutritional supplements (MP3, 545 KB)
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