Aechmea distichantha

Freire, Rodrigo M., Montero, Guillermo A., Vesprini, José L. & Barberis, Ignacio M., 2021, Review of the interactions of an ecological keystone species, Aechmea distichantha Lem. (Bromeliaceae), with the associated fauna, Journal of Natural History 55 (5 - 6), pp. 283-303 : 295-296

Aechmea distichantha as a keystone species

Among plants, until now, mainly trees have been labelled as keystone species ( Manning et al. 2006; Stagoll et al. 2012). Palms and figs have drawn the attention of researchers ( Lambert and Marshall 1991; Mills et al. 1993; Nason et al. 1998; Stevenson 2005) and emblematic palm species such as the threatened Madagascar Triangle Palm Neodypsis decaryi ( Ratsirarson and Silander 1996), the Neotropical dioecious Maurita flexuosa ( Brightsmith 2005; van der Hoek et al. 2019), Euterpe edulis in the Atlantic forest ( de Barros Leite et al. 2012) and Phoenix dactylifera (Date palm) in Mexico oases of Baja California peninsula, ( De Grenade 2013) have been identified as keystone plant species. Other arboreal species such as Araucaria angustifolia in the Atlantic forests ( Bogoni et al. 2020), the Parkia genus in Amazonian forests ( Peres 2000), Acacia trees in Negev desert ecosystems ( Munzbergova and Ward 2002) and Dipteryx micrantha (Fabaceae) in tropical lowland forests in Peru ( Brightsmith 2005) were also described playing that role in ecosystems. Finally, lianas, vascular epiphytes and climber plants have been reported as well as keystone species in forests ( Nadkarni 1994; Diaz-Martin et al. 2014). Even though many Bromeliaceae have been suggested as keystone species in forests ( Richardson 1999; Benzing 2000; Shackleton et al. 2018), to the best of our knowledge A. distichantha results in the first facultative epiphytic herbaceous plant (i.e. either terrestrial or epiphytic) reported as a keystone species.

This study showed the interactions of A. distichantha with many animal species from different taxonomic groups. On the assumption that the analyses of the linking structure of species are an appropriate criterion for determining the keystone species status ( Kotliar et al. 1999), this bromeliad species could be considered a keystone species, and thus being very important in regulating biodiversity ( Davic 2003). Identifying keystone species in threatened ecosystems ( Carnevale et al. 2007; Hansen et al. 2013) is an important task that ecologists should assume because of the documented importance of these species in conservation or biodiversity protection ( Mills et al. 1993), as well as by their important role by providing ecosystem services to humans ( Ladino et al. 2019) and by providing resources to many species of animals that interact with it and, as it happens with other species ( van der Hoek et al. 2019).

Summing up, this review provides new perspectives about the fauna associated with Aechmea distichantha , a keystone plant species, by listing the animal species and showing the importance of arthropods, by taxonomically describing this fauna assembly, by revealing the pattern of different groups in terms of their interactions with the plant as it is suggested for a correct review ( Sayer 2018), and finally by showing the need of improving the taxonomical identification in future studies, as this is an important gap in current knowledge.