Temporal variation in herbivory of a Peruvian bromeliad

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Lowman, M., M. Brown, A. Desrosiers, and D. C. Randle. 1999. Temporal variation in herbivory of a Peruvian bromeliad. Journal of the Bromeliad Society 49:81–83.

Herbivory in bromeliads in forest canopies is reportedly rare. It is not known, however, whether this is due to the toughness of the foliage; the below-average nutritive qualities of the foliage; their mutualistic relationships with protective insects such as ants (that may ward off herbivores); the relative paucity of herbivores in tree crowns; or perhaps the logistic difficulties of accessing canopy bromeliads to measure them. All of these hypothesized explanations require extensive field data collection to reject or accept, and none have been studied to date.