Summary

Bromeliads in Belize are a conspicuous feature of many habitats. Four years of exploration to some of the most remote areas of the county have increased the known species numbers by about 25% over previous estimates, to approximately 68 species in ten genera. The following provides an overview of die project, brief discussions of the habitats found in Belize, and some of die interesting species we have documented.

Belize is the second smallest country in Central America after El Salvador, but has by far the lowest population density of any of the countries in "middle" America (Fig. 1). The latter fact is a blessing for its biodiversity. If you look at aerial views from websites such as Google Earth, you don't even need to have the "borders view" turned on to see the border since there is a sharp line that demarcates its western border with Guatemala. The Guatemala side has been largely converted to agriculture (see lower left side of Fig. 1) while the Belize side has significant areas, especially in its south, that are as pristine as they come for such a large area in Central America. Granted, deforestation is happening at an alarming rate, and agriculture and urban growth is having a large and negative impact on these forests particularly on the arable lowlands, but it is still a wonderful sight to fly over, or even better, to trek into their depths.

Many of the more widespread epiphytic bromeliads do fine wherever there are trees to provide a perch, have available light and nutrients for photosynthesis, and animals to pollinate them and means to disperse their seeds. Some bromeliads can dominate certain agricultural monocultures, especially citrus orchards (Figs. 2, 3). The proximity of so many species also can lead to hybridization not normally seen in a natural forest setting.

I've been fortunate to have had opportunities to travel to the country since 1992. Visits have been on a sporadic basis, but at times have included intensive series of backwoods expeditions, largely organized by Sharon Matola of the Belize Zoo. Then, more recently through a partnership with Ian Anderson's Caves Branch Botanical Garden (CBBG) just outside of Belmopan (Fig. 4), and our co-partner, the Environmental

Research Institute of the University of Belize.

CBBG is located at Ian Anderson's Caves Branch Jungle Lodge (Fig. 5). Ella Baron, the founder/director of CBBG, approached me several years ago about studying bromeliad diversity in the country. The staff had seen the tremendous abundance of bromeliads in the citrus groves (there termed "fields") and those groves being stripped of their epiphytes (Fig. 6). Some groves were being removed entirely and converted to other uses such as corn, possibly endangering some of the species found in those areas. With CBBG's support and eager garden staff, we developed a proposal to inventory a wide swath of the country for not only bromeliads, but all epiphytes.

We began by conducting some trips by road and by boat, and ended up with several off-road explorations lasting...