Wetland Bryophytes

What are bryophytes?

Why are bryophytes important in wetlands?
What are the different groups of bryophytes?
Sphagnum
Bryophyte preservation

What are bryophytes?

Bryophytes vs. Tracheophytes

Bryophytes
Typically small
Do not have xylem and
phloem
Non-lignified
No roots!
External transport
Thrive in hostile and
barren habitats
Biochemical diversity
Gametophyte is
dominant

Tracheophytes

Waterproof covering cuticle

Have xylem and phloem
Vascular system is lignified
Flowering plants, ferns,
conifers, etc.

The Bryophytes
Believed to be the first land plants
~ 20,000 species world-wide
Bryophyta: Sphagnum and the true
moss
Marchantiophyta: liverworts
Anthoceroptophyta: hornworts

true moss

Sphagnum
liverworts
hornworts

Bryophyte lifecycle: an adaptation to success

Bryophytes
Plants (tracheophytes)

The advantage of a dominate gametophyte

Bryophytes are immobile

Have different life cycle
strategies from other plants
Immediate fitness
If change is favorable
Immediate selection
If change is unfavorable
Thus bryophytes can express
new genes in the generation
they first occur
Diploid plants mask deleterious
genes

The large
large scale of bryophytes

Bryophyte influence on the environment

Hydrology
Nutrient cycling and nitrogen fixation
Decomposition
Succession
Stabilizing soil
Biomass production
Carbon fixation

Global climate modelers are realizing that

peatlands have a dramatic effect on global
temperatures and water movement
.

Net primary production (in g m -2 yr -1) for wetland types

Trees
Vascular plants

Bryophytes

Above ground productivity in fens and bogs in Alberta, Canada

Categories of Wetland Bryophytes

Peat mosses
Brown mosses
Feather mosses
Liverworts
Additional
mosses

Ptilium crista-castrensis

Feather moss

Brown moss
Peat moss

Liverworts

Other mosses

Number of Sphagnum (peat moss) and other

bryophytes in a peatland from western Canada (Vitt and
Belland 1995)

Extremely
rich fen

Moderately
rich fen

Poor fen

Bog

Sphagnum

16

12

Other bryophytes

58

28

28

41

Total

67

35

44

53

Brown mosses

Calliergonella cuspidata

Not a taxonomic classification

Associated with rich minerotrophic fens
Brown, reddish, yellow, and golden
Indication of higher pH alkaline conditions
Susceptible to N deposition
Commonly associated with sedges

Tomenthypnum nitens

Feather mosses

Coniferous forest
Swamp forests
Shaded areas
Prefers hummocks and drained sites

Hylocomium splendens

Nitrogen Fixation

Hyaline cells colonized

by Cyanobacteria

Coiled chains of Nostoc are hidden

in the leaf under light microscopy,
but are readily observed as the red
cells under ultraviolet-fluorescence
microscopy

http://wslar.epfl.ch/mit
chell/edward/Sphagnu
m.htm

Pleurozium schreberi

Nitrogen fixation by P. scherberi

Biological nitrogen fixation

Boreal forest nitrogen
supplies?
Feather mosses contribute to
60 -80% of ground cover in
boreal forest
Pleurozium schreberi
common worldwide
Boreal bryophytes provide
greater primary productivity
then overstory vegetation
3 kg / ha yr Organic carbon
accumulation in boreal forest
.5 kg / ha yr previous
estimated yearly fixation by all
vegetation
Pleurozium schreberi was
recently found to contribute1.5
-2.0 Kg / ha yr fixation
Implications for forestry
management in boreal regions

Other mosses

Bryophytes that do not

fall into the previous
categories
Polytrichum spp.
swamps and fens
Dicranum spp.
hummocks

Liverworts
Leaves often lobed
Dorsi-ventral organization
Two body plans leafy or thallose

Liverworts vs. moss

Liverworts differ from mosses in three main ways
1.
2.
3.

Lack a protonema
Have single cell rhizoids
Have two ranked leaf arrangement
Mosses are usually 3 or 5 ranked

Peatmoss a.k.a. Sphagnum

Sphagnum facts

2 Sphagnum than in
More living carbon in
any other genus of plants worldwide
Sphagnum in northern peatlands
Covers 1.5 Mkm2
Stores 150 Gt of carbon
Ecosystem engineer
Resistant to decay
Genus contains many species
~100 in the northern hemisphere
~ 19 in the Keweenaw peninsula

Global distribution of peatlands

Structure of Sphagnum
The Head - Capitulum

Pendent branches
Divergent branches

(fascicles)

Stem
NO roots or rhizoids !

Sphagnum cell structure

Water adaptations
25x Weight in water
One cell in twenty is alive

Sphagnum leaf

Pores

Photosynthetic cells
Hyline cells

Fibirals

http://kentsimmons.uwinnipeg.ca/2152/sphagnum3.jpg

Chemical properties of Sphagnum

Coping with a harsh environment

Often grows in low nutrient areas

Creates cation sites
Contains secondary compounds
Phenolics
Can translocate metabolites

Cation exchange

H+
+

OH
CO OOH+
C

O
CO

COOH+
CO
OH
+

pH

Ca++

H+
Active substances are uronic acids
-galacturonic acid and 5KMA
The uronic acids sometimes referred to as sphagnan
High pH - phenolics such as sphagnum acid are active

Microtopography of Sphagnum

pH
2.9

fuscum

3.1
capillifolium
3.2
magellanicum
24
recurvum

3.5

4.0

cuspidatum
Differences in Sphagnum species in a hummock hollow
complex in northern Michigan. (redrawn from Crum1992)

Desiccation

Known durations of desiccation

survival in
bryophyte plants.

Sphagnum fuscum 2-4 d

Sphagnum papillosum 2-4 d
Sphagnum balticum 2-4 d
Sphagnum cuspidatum 2-4 d
Sphagnum magellanicum 2-4 d
Sphagnum magellanicum 14 d
Sphagnum fallax 14 d
Fontinalis flaccida 3 mos
Barbula torquata 18 mos
Oxymitra 4 yrs
Riccia canescens 7 yrs
Grimmia laevigata 10 yrs
Syntrichia ruralis 14 yrs 3
Tortula muralis protonema 14 yrs
Riccia macrocarpa 23 yrs

Mosses are among the most

desiccation-tolerant of all
plants. They can be
completely dried at the
cellular level and recover
completely. When re-wet after
months or years of being dry,
they begin photosynthesis
within 5 minutes!

http://ucjeps.herb.berkeley.edu/bryolab/pww/

Cold tolerance

Increase sugar as natural antifreeze

Species of Sphagnum in the Keweenaw peninsula

~119 species of Sphagnum worldwide

19 species of Sphagnum in the
Keweenaw
Divided into sections based on:
Morphology
Growing conditions

10

Sphagnum squarrosum

Medium to robust
Squarrose leaves
widely spreading
Large terminal
capitulum
Prefers depression
Shade and moist
areas
Thuja swamps

http://plants.usda.gov/gallery/large/spsq70_004_lhp.jpg

Sphagnum squarrosum

http://plants.usda.gov/gallery/large/spsq70_006_lhp.jpg

Sphagnum papillosum

Golden brown lawns

Plump and swollen
Short stubby spreading branches
Brown stems
Wet and acidic habitat
Forms lawns and low hummocks
Followed by S. magellanicum
Poor fens and acid lakes
http://web.odu.edu/webroot/instr/sci/plant.nsf/files/10378.jpg/$FILE/10378.jpg

11

Sphagnum papillosum

Sphagnum magellanicum
sphagnum magellanicum

http://plants.usda.gov/gallery/large/spma70_006_lhp.jpg

Sphagnum magellanicum

Robust and large

Grows in partial shade and in
the open
Red produced as sun response
Initiates hummocks
Poor fen to bog
Moist to dry sites
http://plants.usda.gov/gallery/large/spma70_004_lhp.jpg
Common and widespread

12

Sphagnum magellanicum

Sphagnum cuspidatum

Medium to slender
Grows in wet depressions
Can grow submerged
Long branches and leaves
White to yellow
Looks like a wet cat wet matted
masses

Sphagnum wulfianum

Robust growth
Clover-like capitulum
Green to yellow
Brittle stem
Common
Grows almost
exclusively in Thuja
swamps
Has a loose, shaggy,
top-heavy appearance

http://www.bd.lst.se/publishedObjects/10001510/bollvitmossa.jpg

13

Sphagnum girgensohnii

Vibrant green
Large with flat top capitulum
When dry white streaks visible on leaves
Thuja swamps
Long graceful spreading branches
Capitulum appears 5-rowed (star
shaped)
http://plants.usda.gov/gallery/pubs/spgi70_001_php.jpg

Sphagnum girgensohnii

http://www.nps.gov/olym/crypto/M_SPGI.jpg

Vulnerability of bryophytes

Sensitive drought
Have a low growth rate
Very sensitive to pollution
Lack of image
Are not large and charismatic
Lack of understanding of how they
contribute to ecosystem
functioning

14

Threats to Bryophytes

Deforestation
Forest cultivation
Urbanization
Land reclamation
Road construction
Wetland drainage
Invasive species

Peatland loss

Agriculture 250,000 km2

Forestry 150,000 km2
Peat harvesting 50,000 km2
Does not include tropical
peatlands

Peatland drained or altered for agriculture

Europe

Agriculture

%
countrys
peatland

Russia

70400

12

Germany

12000

85

Belarus

9631

40

Poland

7620

Ukraine

Agriculture

% countrys
peatland

Indonesia

37200

18

USA

17100

16

West Malaysia

5760

71

70

China

1930

13

5000

50

Canada

1410

Sweden

3000

Sarawak

1370

12

Finland

2000

Netherlands

2000

85

Norway

1905

Lithuania

1900

39

Iceland

1300

13

Estonia

1300

12

Total

125000

Total

65000

15

Bryophyte harvesting not including

peatlands
A nontimber forest product
Commercial importance increasing
Harvested

Soil conditioner
Cultivation medium
Packing material
Floral decorative

6 million dollar industry in the US

With illegal harvest it is estimated as a $15
million industry in the Northwest and
Appalachian region

Sustainable?

2
Can take several decades for
regeneration
Accumulation rate 22.4g/m /yr
Commercial harvest rate of at least 21 years

Web sites
Dr. Janice Glimes Online Bryology book
http://www.bryoecol.mtu.edu/

International Association of Bryologist

http://www.bryology.org/index.html

American Bryological and Lichenological

Society (ABLS)
http://www.unomaha.edu/~abls/

Moss images
http://plants.usda.gov/

16

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