BOTANY WITH BASICS OF HYDROBOTANY (AQUATIC PLANTS OF UKRAINE) - B.Ye. Yakubenko - 2011

IX. BRYOPHYTES (HIGHER SPORE PLANTS)

Ecology of Bryophytes

According to their relation to substrate moisture, bryophytes are divided into the following ecological groups: hydrophytes (Riccia, Fontinalis), hygrophytes (Ricciocarpos), mesophytes (Polytrichum, Dicranum), and xeromesophytes (mosses growing on tree bark). There are no true xerophytes among bryophytes.

Regarding the Temperature factor, bryophytes are notable for their ability to exist within wide temperature ranges. They can survive at very low and very high (up to 100° C) temperatures. This property is due to the ability of mosses to lose Water without significant damage and, in a dehydrated state, to withstand such extreme conditions. Therefore, they inhabit tundras, deserts, mountain rocks, etc.

In terms of Nutrition, mosses are typically phototrophic plants, though saprotrophs and semi-saprotrophs also occur among them.

Bryophytes vary in their light requirements and, based on this property, are classified into heliophytes (light-loving), sciophytes (shade-loving), and shade-tolerant species. Photoperiodic responses (reaction to daylight length) in bryophytes have not been established.

Most bryophytes are undemanding regarding their substrate, as it serves primarily as an anchor and a source of mineral nutrients. Consequently, mosses can colonize diverse substrates: soil, parent rock, cliffs, stones, tree trunks (epiphytes), as well as air and water.

Hydrophytic and hygrophytic mosses grow in water and wetlands characterized by low oxygen and mineral content combined with a high concentration of organic acids. Some species thrive in warm or even hot waters of volcanic springs. However, mosses do not grow in the saline or brackish waters of seas and oceans.

Due to their ability to grow in both normal and extreme environments, bryophytes act as important photoproducers in the Earth's biosphere.

Bog mosses are key agents in peat formation. Thanks to their unique capacity to absorb and retain water, aquatic and wetland mosses play a vital role in fresh water storage and the Regulation of the hydrological regime of groundwater, wetlands, springs, streams, and rivers.

In trophic webs, The Role of aquatic and wetland mosses is minor. Nevertheless, species such as Riccia, Ricciocarpos, Sphagnum, Cinclidotus, Fontinalis, Drepanocladus, Hygroamblystegium, Eurhynchium, and Hypnum may be consumed by aquatic invertebrates and vertebrates.