As part of his undergraduate research project, Philip Bell-Doyon surveyed the Panamanian endemic cycad Zamia pseudoparasitica from May to July 2018 (here a previous paper from his project). The species is the only strictly epiphytic gymnosperm and its life history is little known due to the inaccessibility of the plants. He used single-rope and prussik-knot tree climbing techniques to estimate population density and ant-garden specificity were evaluated. Zamia pseudoparasitica is locally common in parts of the park with up to 24 individuals per hectare. No ripe ovulate cone was found, precluding the observation of seed dispersers. Almost a quarter of monitored plants presented an ant nest near or within its root system.

The ants identified belonged to five genera: Camponotus, Cyphomyrmex, Megalomyrmex, Odontomachus, and Rogeria. Zamia pseudoparasitica has unique ecological attributes related to its peculiar life history. He concluded that the species should receive more attention from environmental authorities and the public to help preserve its habitat.

This work was made possible by  the Cycad Society, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), FRQNT-206943 (Québec). This project was part of the research led by J.C. Villarreal (Université Laval, STRI) and K. Saltonstall (STRI) and financed by SENACYT (Panama; Contract No. 12-2018-4-FID16-237), among others. To Maycol Madrid and Lilisbeth Rodriguez for their very precious help in logistics and sampling.

Here is the citation and the link to the paper:

Bell-Doyon, P. &, Juan Carlos Villarreal A. 2020. New Notes on the Ecology of the Epiphytic Gymnosperm and Panamanian Endemic Zamia pseudoparasitica. Neotropical Naturalist 2: 1-7.