I am looking for examples (it would be great if they are published) when amphibian species was "killed" by bromeliad carnivorous plant. Many species belonging to Bromeliaceae are known as important place for breeding, especially for poison frogs (Denrobatidae) (females lay their eggs or deposit their young in the pools of water that accumulate in these plants).
As they are at least two species of Bromeliaceae which are known as carnivorous (Brocchinia reducta and Catopsis berteroniana) it would be great to know if these plants can be dangerous for the spawn and/or tadpoles.
Thank you in advance for any comment!
Radomir
The attached paper describes bromeliad 'predation' on newts. There is a great review on pitcher plants in the Annals of Botany 2010.Traps of carnivorous pitcher plants as a habitat: composition of the fluid, biodiversity and mutualistic activities. Wolfram Adlassnig, Marianne Peroutka and Thomas Lendl
The article on sarracenia purpurea from Aleksandra is interesting, but that plant is not a bromeliad. I would expect that any amphibians captured brocchinia or catopsis would have died from natural causes; the carnivory of these species was only relatively recently established and is not particularly well-suited to capturing anything larger than small insects :-)
Even the relatively sophisticated traps of Nepenthes don't seem to deliberately target vertebrates (when they do occasionally trap lizards or rats, the pitcher usually dies off).
Hello,
Thank you very much Alexandra for your comment but Daniel is right, Sarracenia does not belong to Bromeliacae. Anyway, it is really an interesting paper, thanks.
And of course Daniel, you are right, I am rather sure that it is imposible that bromeliad plant can catch adult frogs. Anyway, it would be nice to know if the plants are safe also for the spawn and/or tadpoles which can live in small "plant water reservoirs". As I know some phosphatases have been noted in water present in such reservois in Brocchinia reducta. So, if these enzymes can digest small insects maybe (???) they can digest spawn and/or tadpoles too?
Best regards,
Radomir
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