Acid waters in tank bromeliads: Causes and potential consequences.

Premise: The consequences of acidity for plant performance are profound, yet the prevalence and causes of low pH in bromeliad tank water are unknown despite its functional relevance to key members of many neotropical plant communities.

Methods: We investigated tank water pH for eight bromeliad species in the field and for the widely occurring Guzmania monostachia in varying light. We compared pH changes over time between plant and artificial tanks containing a solution combined from several plants.

A tale of two plasticities: leaf hydraulic conductances and related traits diverge for two tropical epiphytes from contrasting light environments.

We compared the effects of different light environments on leaf hydraulic conductance (Kleaf ) for two congeneric epiphytes, the tank bromeliads Guzmania lingulata (L.) Mez and Guzmania monostachia (L.) Rusby ex Mez.