Watch your bromeliads!

Have you ever noticed that the leaves of bromeliads are capable of holding water almost just as good as any man made container?

As the old phrase states, “water is life”, so it is therefore no surprise that the bromeliad’s ‘containers’ are considered to be a microecosystem in itself, where many insects spend part of their lifecycle and frogs are often seen feeding nearby.

A group of cientists from Mexico were interested in studying this bromeliad-frog relation and chose to focus their efforts at a pine and oak forest in Chiapas. The scientists used GoPro cameras to monitor the bromeliads’ microecosystem in real-time and record their sightings. The results of this research can be viewed here.

You can play your part by simply finding a bromeliad that can be easily observed on daily basis and noting down or photographing what animals are present. Your observations might even be able to help generate important data on the population status of your region’s frogs – a group that have suffered a severe decline in numbers as climate change and pollution continues to affect their delicate habitats.

So go ahead, invite your neighbors, or take your children into an expedition to watch your bromeliads! And please do share your observations on one of many available citizen scientists mobile apps and contribute to the conservation of these amazing animals. 

Written by: Elena Vargas Fonseca
Photo credits: German Eduardo Jaber De Lima