Phytotelma (plural phytotelmata) is a small water-filled cavity in a terrestrial plant. The water accumulated within these plants may serve as the habitat for associated
fauna and
flora.
A rich literature in German summarised by Thienemann (1954)[1] developed many aspects of phytotelm biology. Reviews of the subject by Kitching (1971) and Maguire (1971)[2][3] introduced the concept of phytotelmata to English-speaking readers. A multi-authored book edited by Frank and Lounibos (1983)[4] dealt in 11 chapters with classification of phytotelmata, and with phytotelmata provided by bamboo internodes, banana leaf axils,
bromeliadleaf axils, Nepenthes pitchers, Sarracenia pitchers,
tree holes, and Heliconia flower
bracts and leaf rolls.[5][6]
A classification of phytotelmata by Kitching (2000)[7] recognizes five principal types: bromeliad tanks, certain
carnivorous plants such as
pitcher plants, water-filled
tree hollows,
bamboo internodes, and axil water (collected at the base of leaves, petals or
bracts); it concentrated on food webs. A review by Greeney (2001)[8] identified seven forms: tree holes, leaf
axils, flowers, modified leaves, fallen vegetative parts (e.g. leaves or bracts), fallen fruit
husks, and
stem rots.
Etymology
The word "phytotelma" derives from the
ancient Greek roots phyto-, meaning 'plant', and telma, meaning 'pond'. Thus, the correct
singular is phytotelma.
In tropical and subtropical rainforest habitats, many species of frogs specialize on phytotelma as a readily available breeding ground, such as some
microhylids[13] (in pitcher plants),
poison dart frogs[14] and some
tree frogs (in bromeliads).[15][16]
Many insects use them for breeding and foraging, for instance
odonates,
water bugs,
beetles and
dipterans.[17][18] Some species also are of great practical significance; for example, immature stages of some
mosquitoes, such as some Anopheles and Aedes species that are important disease vectors, develop in phytotelmata.[4]
^Thienemann, A. (1954). Chironomus: Leben, Verbreitung und wirtschaftliche Bedeutung der Chironomiden. Binnengewässer20: 1-834.
^Maguire, B. (1971) Phytotelmata: Biota and community structure. Annual review of Ecology and Systematics.2: 439-464.
^Kitching, R. L. (1971) An ecological study of water-filled treeholes and their position in the woodland ecosystem. Journal of Animal Ecology40: 281-302.
^
abFrank, J.H. and Lounibos, L.P. (1983) Phytotelmata: Terrestrial plants as hosts for aquatic insect communities, Plexus Press.
ISBN0-937548-05-7
^Jalinsky, J., T.A. Radocy, R. Wertenberger, & C.S. Chaboo. 2014. Insect diversity in phytotelmata habitats of two host plants, Heliconia stricta Huber (Heliconiaceae) and Calathea lutea Schult (Marantaceae) in the south-east Amazon of Peru. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 87(3): 299–311.
^Hayford, Barbara, Timo Förster, Vivek Patel, & Caroline S. Chaboo. 2021. Aquatic Diptera associated with Neotropical Zingiberales phytotelmata (Diptera). Journal of Natural History 54:43-44, 2815-2838, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2020.1871522.
^Kitching, R.L. (2000). Food webs and container habitats: The natural history and ecology of phytotelmata. Cambridge University Press.
ISBN0-521-77316-4
^Greeney, H.F. (2001). The insects of plant-held waters: a brief review and bibliography. Journal of Tropical Ecology17(2): 241–260.
doi:
10.1017/S026646740100116X
^Varga, L. (1928). Ein interessanter Biotop der Biocönose von Wasserorganism. Biologische Zentralblatt48: 143–162.
^Reid, Janet W.; Janetzky, Wolfgang (1996). "Colonization of Jamaican Bromeliads by Tropocyclops jamaicensis n. sp. (Crustacea: Copepoda: Cyclopoida)". Invertebrate Biology. 115 (4): 305.
doi:
10.2307/3227020.
ISSN1077-8306.
JSTOR3227020.
^Klein, J. C. von Vaupel. (2014). Treatise on Zoology - Anatomy, Taxonomy, Biology. The Crustacea, Volume 4 Part B. Leiden: BRILL.
ISBN978-90-04-26493-9.
OCLC883570588.
^Alves‐Silva, Ricardo; da Silva, Hélio Ricardo (January 2009). "Life in bromeliads: reproductive behaviour and the monophyly of the Scinax perpusillus species group (Anura: Hylidae)". Journal of Natural History. 43 (3–4): 205–217.
doi:
10.1080/00222930802568808.
ISSN0022-2933.
S2CID84687680.
^Sabagh, Leandro Talione; Ferreira, Rodrigo Barbosa; Rocha, Carlos Frederico Duarte (November 2017). "Host bromeliads and their associated frog species: Further considerations on the importance of species interactions for conservation". Symbiosis. 73 (3): 201–211.
doi:
10.1007/s13199-017-0500-9.
ISSN0334-5114.
S2CID22774389.
^Hayford, Barbara, Timo Förster, Vivek Patel, & Caroline S. Chaboo. 2021. Aquatic Diptera associated with Neotropical Zingiberales phytotelmata (Diptera). Journal of Natural History 54:43-44, 2815-2838, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2020.1871522.