Bromeliaceae exhibits a wide range of habitat preferences, ranging from mesic terrestrial to arid epiphytic. Much of this diversity is facilitated by adaptations which aid salt procurement and increase mineral use efficiency in the forest canopy. Three major nutritional strategies exist in the family: the one employed by numerous terrestrial species of subfamilies Bromelioideae and Pitcairnioideae seems to differ very little from that serving many rooted terrestrials in other families; the tank and atmospheric strategies, however, are based on much more specialized nutritional modes which are derived from the former. Each is dependent on a broad constellation of structural and functional features involving many parts of the plant body and all phases of the life cycle. Tank nutrition is most effective on moist sites, while the atmospheric forms are adapted to drier, less fertile situations. Relationships among these nutritional strategies and the major taxonomic units of Bromeliaceae are proposed.
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Benzing et al. (1974) studied this question.