Ecology of bryophytes- Swapnil.pptx

Deals with the various life forms and general ecology of bryophytes

1. TOPIC: ECOLOGY OF BRYOPHYTES UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF- Dr. NIMISHA AMIST SUBMITTED BY- SWAPNIL ANAND UNIVERSITY OF ALLAHABAD

2. ECOLOGY Ecology is the scientific study of interactions among organisms and their environment, such as the interactions organisms have with each other and with their abiotic environment. Topics of interest to ecologists include the diversity, distribution, amount (biomass), number (population) of organisms, as well as competition between them within and among ecosystems.

3. BRYOPHYTES & ITS ECOLOGY The bryophytes are a small group of most primitive land dwellers, included about 24,000 species and 960 genera. The bryophytes are worldwide in distribution and are to be found in practically all places in which plants can live, except in the sea. Bryophytes regarded as terrestrial plants, occur in diverse habitats like the soil, barks of trees, leaves, dead logs, rocks and stones etc. Bryophytes are not parasitic plants.

4. A few bryophytes are true aquatic plants e.g., Riccia fluitans , Ricciocarpos notans , Fontinalis antipyretica , and Riella sp. Riella is the only bryophyte successfully adapted to complete its life cycle under water. A few species of bryophytes grow in bogs such as Sphagnum sp., Leucobryum glaucum , Drepanocladus fluitans , Cephalozia bicuspidata , and Calypogeia fissa Leucobryum glaucum cushions

5. DESERT BRYOPHYTES In hot, dry areas water is typically scarce, with rainfall unpredictable, and the bryophytes living there adopt various survival strategies. One is to grow in the more protected MICRO-HABITATS – such as at the bases of grass tussocks, on tree trunks, under boulder overhangs and in rock crevices Arid area bryophytes open up and actively photosynthesize when there is moisture available, but close up and become dormant when conditions become too hot and dry. Bryophytes are much more resistant to heat when dry than they are when moist. Experiments have shown that species which can tolerate temperatures of 80-100°C (or even more) when dry, die at temperatures of 40-50°C if they are kept moist.

6. Asterella drummondii - wet Asterella drummondii - dry

7. EPILITHS Life forms on basic rocks in nine communities in southern Germany. The communities subject to high light and temperature (photophytic and thermophytic) were dominated by cushions, short turfs, and perennial and short-lived colonists. Epilithic or saxicolous bryophytes may be defined as those growing directly on the surface of rock.

8. EPIPHYTES BRYOPHYTES Epiphytes occur most abundantly in moist tropical forests, but mosses occur as epiphytes in almost all biomes. In Europe there are no dedicated epiphytic plants using roots, but rich assemblages of mosses and lichens grow on trees in damp areas (mainly the western coastal fringe), and the common polypody fern grows epiphytically along branches. Rarely, grass, small bushes or small trees may grow in suspended soils up trees (typically in a rot-hole). Epiphytic plants attached to their hosts high in the canopy have an advantage over herbs restricted to the ground where there is less light and herbivores may be more active. Epiphytic plants are also important to certain animals that may live in their water reservoirs, such as some types of frogs and arthropods.

9. Epiphytes can have a significant effect on the microenvironment of their host, and of ecosystems where they are abundant, as they hold water in the canopy and decrease water input to the soil. The epiphytes create a significantly cooler and moister environment in the host plant canopy, potentially greatly reducing water loss by the host through transpiration. Climacium dendroides, showing dendroid

10. AQUATIC bryophytes Taxithelium merrillii on mangrove mud   Places such as streams, lakes and bogs are home to many species of bryophytes. The most significant of the bog bryophytes are the mosses in the genus Sphagnum . Sphagnum bogs are estimated to cover between 1% and 2% of the world's land surface (more than the area covered by any other single plant genus) and have significant ecological roles. Some of the bryophyte species found near water can also tolerate drier areas while others cannot survive away from a moist environment. Many bryophytes are found in association with freshwater but there are no marine bryophytes.

11. EPIPHYLLOUS BRYOPHYTES Radula compacta on Blechnum frond Epiphyllous or follicolous bryophytes are those that grow on the leaves of vascular plants. Such epiphylls are widespread, and often quite common, in the tropical areas where there are long periods of high humidity. Two examples are the leafy liverworts Lopholejeunea muelleriana var. australis and Cololejeunea lanciloba , both pictured growing on the leaves of vascular rainforest plants on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. Pellia epiphylla ( thallus liverworts) found on moist shady forest floor which is epiphyllus fern. Many epiphyllous species are strictly epiphyllous but some may also be found on other plant parts (twigs, branches, trunks) or even non-plant substrates such as rocks. Pellia epiphylla

12. LIFE FORMS OF BRYOPHYTES Annuals – pioneers; no vegetative shoots remain to carry on a second year; e.g. Buxbaumia , Diphyscium , Ephemerum , Phascum , Riccia Short turfs – open mineral soils and rocks; regenerative shoots; form spreading turfs for only a few years; e.g. Ceratodon , Didymodon , Marsupella Tall Turfs – forest floors in temperate zones; can conduct water internally; very tall; persist by regenerative shoots; Bartramiaceae , Dicranaceae , Polytrichaceae , Drepanocladus , Herbertus , Sphagnum , Tomenthypnum Cushions – rocks, bark, Arctic, Antarctic, alpine; usually high light; grow upward and sideways; hemispherical; persistent for many years; Andreaea , Grimmia , Leucobryum Orthotrichum , Plagiopus , no liverworts

13. Mats – rocks, bark, [on leaves (epiphyllous) in tropics]; plagiotropic and persistent for a number of years; Lejeuneaceae , most Marchantiaceae , Homalothecium , Lophocolea , Plagiothecium , Radula Wefts – forest floor of temperate zone; hold considerable capillary water; grow loosely and easy to remove from substrate; new layer grows each year; Brachytheciaceae , Hylocomiaceae , Bazzania , Ptilidium , Thuidium , Trichocolea Pendants – epiphytes, especially in tropical cloud forests; long main stem with short side branches; Meteoriaceae , Phyllogoniaceae , some tropical Frullania Tails – on trees and rocks, shade-loving; radially leafed, creeping, shoots stand away from substrate; Cyathophorum , Leucodon , Spiridens , some tropical Plagiochila Fans – on vertical substrate, usually where there is lots of rain; creeping, with branches in one plane and leaves usually flat; Neckeraceae , Pterobryaceae , Thamnobryum , some Plagiochila . Dendroids – on ground, usually moist; main stem with tuft of branches at top; Climacium , Hypnodendron , Hypopterygium , Leucolepis , Pleuroziopsis , Symphogyna hymenophyllum Streamer – long, floating stems in streams and lakes; Fontinalis

14. FAN SHORT TURF

15. PENDANT FORM DENDROID FORM WEFT FORM CUSHION FORM

16. Bryophytes in tropical rain forest The tropical rain forest is well known for supporting a great diversity of flora and fauna. Because of the complexity of structure and variety of microhabitats, lowland and montane tropical rain forest are the habitat of many bryophytes holding 25-30% of the world’s bryophytes (Gradstein & Pócs, 1989). In fact, Gradstein and Pócs (1989) have stated that the tropical rain forests, including the tropical montane forest, possibly hold more bryophyte species than any other major ecosystems of the world. About 90% of the bryophytes of a tropical rain forest belong to only 15 families: Calymperaceae, Dicranaceae, Fissidentaceae, Hookeriaceae, Hypnaceae, Meteoriaceae, Neckeriaceae , Orthotrichaceae , Pterobryaceae and Sematophyllaceae (mosses); and Frullaniaceae, Lejeuneaceae, Lepidoziaceae, Plagiochilaceae and Radulaceae (liverworts).

17. ARCTIC REGION Bryophytes and water level are intimately related in the Arctic Where the water table is maintained above the bryophyte surface, marshes develop. Where the water table is high above the permafrost, but remains below the bryophyte surface, fens develop. These moss tundras normally have no standing water and water courses are able to move through them from below the surface, maintaining the fen status. The standing water level is thus the primary factor determining the species alliances in that area. Some species complexes, such as that of the Catoscopium nigritum community require a temporary period of desiccation to subsist.

18. ANTARCTICA Warnstorfia sarmentosa In the Antarctic, stones and gravel of nearly level ground support short turfs and cushions (Longton 1979b). In addition to these, calcareous substrata may have mats. Rock crevices have short turfs, small cushions, and mats. In the Antarctic, aquatic mosses showed the greatest plasticity when submerged compared to being grown in the air (Priddle 1979). Warnstorfia sarmentosa grew longer stems (longer internodes) and larger leaves in the water, whereas Sanionia uncinata varied little from its terrestrial form.

19. POLAR REGION The dry polar desert fellfields have cushions of both mosses and flowering plants, but other open areas have compact forms such as mats, carpets, and short turfs. Wetlands to be dominated by the tall turf life form, with lesser representation of short turfs such as Seligeria polaris . Mesic communities had a wider range of life forms than the wetlands, but the tall turf was still a dominant, with short turfs and mat-forming species also among the dominants.

20. ALPINE In Alpine Cushions are common, but also carpets cover the dirt and provide protection from erosion. eg:- Takakia lepidozioides

21. Environmental pollution is increasing day by day, posing a very serious problem for the flora and fauna. A large number of pollutants including heavy metals are adversely affecting our environment. Bryophytes are widely used as bio-indicators for their unique and very specific responses. Some bryophyte species are extremely sensitive to pollutants and exhibit visible injury symptoms even in the presence of very minute quantities of pollutants. Such species serve as good bio-indicators and act as a "warning giver" regarding the effect on the environment. Some other species of bryophytes possess the capacity to absorb and retain pollutants in concentrations much higher than those absorbed and retained by the higher plants growing in the same habitat. BRYOPHYTES- ENVIRONMENT INDICATOR

22. Goodman and Roberts reported that Hypnum cupressiforme transplanted in industrial area in Wales died after sometime, but it continued to accumulate heavy metals after death. In India, studies on heavy metal monitoring, has also been carried out by transplanting Marchantia polymorpha and Brachythecium populeum at vehicular polluted sites in Mussoorie . A study on bio-monitoring of heavy metals due to vehicular pollution with the help of Sphagnum has also been done by Saxena (2001). The high accumulation capacity of bryophytes for pollutants has led to their use for heavy metal monitoring. Bryophytes: A Useful Tool in Heavy Metal Monitoring Heavy metals which are accumulated in bryophytes are Pb, Cu, Zn, Ni, Cr and Cd

23. Bryophytes are known as efficient accumulator of heavy metals because of their following properties:- They lack true root system and depend largely on atmospheric deposition for their requirements of mineral elements. They usually lack continuous cuticle layer and thus their tissues are easily permeable to water and minerals, including the gaseous pollutants in the atmosphere and the metal ions. Their tissues have numerous negatively charged groups and act as an efficient cation exchangers. Their cell walls possess high exchange capacity and even their dead tissues have capacity to bind ions. They generally obtain mineral nutrition from wet and dry deposition of particles and soluble salts. However, in certain bryophytes, uptake of metals from substrate occurs, mainly with rising capillary water. Such bryophyte species are less suitable for the monitoring of heavy metals.

24. ECOLOGICAL ROLE In wetlands such as boglands and swamps, bryophytes absorb great quantities of water and release organic acids which decrease decomposition rates. This accumulation of biomass over thousands of years forms ecosystems such as the Okeefenokee Swamp, the bogs we find thoughout Canada, Northern US and across the oceans.  

25. In the tropical rainforest, 'moss balls' form in the higher elevations. Here they can absorb great quantities of rain and release water slowly into the atmosphere or ground. They also, along with the moisture, release quantities of ions i.e. Ca+. These balls support numbers of invertebrates and smaller organisms. Basically these layers have created a second 'ground' or terra high in the tropical canopy, a world recently discovered with walkways and ladders that span the canopy.

26. REFERENCE ECOLOGY OF BRYOPHYTES - A.J.E SMITH Glime , J. M. Bryophyte Ecology. Volume 1 .

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