{"id":361,"date":"2012-04-25T13:57:09","date_gmt":"2012-04-25T17:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/umaine.edu\/littlefieldgarden\/?page_id=361"},"modified":"2016-02-05T13:12:09","modified_gmt":"2016-02-05T18:12:09","slug":"aechmea-miniata","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/littlefieldgarden\/home\/plants-in-the-greenhouse\/aechmea-miniata\/","title":{"rendered":"Aechmea miniata"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Aechmea
Aechmea miniata. Photo by Jason Carley.<\/figcaption><\/figure>One of the members of the bromeliad family (Bromeliaceae) known as tank bromeliads, Aechmea miniata<\/em> produces leaves that are very close to each other and form tanks known as phytotelmata, which are small pools of water that collect at the base of its leaves, and provide habitats for many microorganisms and invertebrates. A. miniata<\/em>, like most of the Aechmea <\/em>species, also has a close relationship with ants. As an epiphyte, A. miniata<\/em>, does not have access to nutrients found in the soil and must collect nutrients from debris that collects in its tank. Ants have found that these tanks are good sources of water throughout the year and the foliage of A. miniata<\/em> gives them greater protection from storms and predators.\u00a0In turn, the ants provide valuable nutrients to the plant when unwanted prey and feces collect around the base of the plant.\u00a0In fact, the health as well as color and flower size of the plant has been found to be directly related to colonization by ants. A study of Aechmea<\/em> in French Guiana found that identical species grew quite differently depending on the species of ant that colonized it.[1] This relationship is a perfect example of the dynamics of bio-diversity that are found throughout the natural world.<\/p>\n

[1] Leroy, C., Corbara, B., Dejean, A. & Cereghino, R. (2009) Ants mediate foliar structure and nitrogen acquisition in a tank-bromeliad. New Phytologist<\/em> 183:1124-1133.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the members of the bromeliad family (Bromeliaceae) known as tank bromeliads, Aechmea miniata produces leaves that are very close to each other and form tanks known as phytotelmata, which are small pools of water that collect at the base of its leaves, and provide habitats for many microorganisms and invertebrates. A. miniata, like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":252,"featured_media":0,"parent":363,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/page-withsidebar.php","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-361","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nAechmea miniata - Roger Clapp Greenhouses & Littlefield Garden - University of Maine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/littlefieldgarden\/home\/plants-in-the-greenhouse\/aechmea-miniata\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aechmea miniata - Roger Clapp Greenhouses & Littlefield Garden - University of Maine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the members of the bromeliad family (Bromeliaceae) known as tank bromeliads, Aechmea miniata produces leaves that are very close to each other and form tanks known as phytotelmata, which are small pools of water that collect at the base of its leaves, and provide habitats for many microorganisms and invertebrates. 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