| Abstract: | The occurrence and distribution of dictyostelid cellular slime molds (CSM) in the mantle of dead organic matter (literally a “canopy soil”) at the bases of large epiphytes were studied in the Luquillo Experimental Forest of north-eastern Puerto Rico. CSM were isolated from 18 of 50 samples collected from this microhabitat, and four different species were recovered. Dictyostelium purpureum was the single most abundant species and represented almost half (48%) of all clones isolated during the study. Total densities (clones/g) averaged only 38 in the five forest types examined, but densities > 75 were recorded for two forest types. Relative abundance of CSM in canopy soils of the five forest types followed the same general pattern displayed by these organisms in forest floor litter, but a particular species was not necessarily common to both microhabitats in a given forest type. |
