Microhabitat distribution of protostelids in tropical forests of the Caribbean National Forest, Puerto Rico

Abstract

The standardized technique developed by Moore and Spiegel is useful in the characterization of protostelid communities in the aerial and litter microhabitats of tropical montane rainforests of Puerto Rico. Aerial species from temperate habitats are rare in both microhabitats in tropical forests; however, litter species from temperate habitats are the most abundant species in both microhabitats in the tropical forests. Two species, Nematostelium. gracile and Schizoplasmodiopsis pseudoendospora, exhibited a shift in microhabitat preference in forests along an altitudinal gradient. Both were more abundant in the litter microhabitat of the forest at lowest elevation, and in the aerial microhabitat in a forest at intermediate/high elevation. Colonization of straws was greater for the aerial than the litter microhabitat of the two forests at highest elevation and was greater in the litter than aerial microhabitat of the forest at lowest elevation. Overall, diversity was greatest for the aerial microhabitat of elfin and palm forests than the litter microhabitats of the same forest types.

Key Words:

• ecology
• mycetozoans
• protoctists
• slime molds