Responses and Adaptations of Bryophytes to a Changing World

Dear Colleagues,

Bryophytes can colonize a wide range of environments in all bioclimatic regions, mainly thanks to their ability to tolerate extended periods of dehydration by entering a state of cryptobiosis, from which they can recover their normal metabolism as soon as water becomes available again. The distribution of these plants depends both on general factors of climate, such as latitude and altitude, and on ecological factors (plant functional types). The role of bryophytes in the ecosystem, a largely overlooked field of study, may be significant despite their small size. The structure and function of a plant organism result from the interaction between genetics and its adaptation to the environment in which it lives. Bryophytes have characteristics that do not allow for a comparison of their biological strategies and growth patterns with those of other terrestrial organisms.

The effects of climate change on the environment are often disproportionate to the duration of the climate-change-induced phenomena. For this reason, the assessment of the impact of climate change on species, ecosystems and communities represents a significant challenge for basic research. In this respect,  this Special Issue aims to collect studies on the ecological breadth of bryophytes in response to the environment in which they grow.

Dr. Annalena Cogoni
Dr. Silvia Poponessi
Guest Editors

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• bryophytes
• climate change
• plant functional types
• bryophyte distribution
• conservation

Title: Investigation of the copper requirements of the metallophyte liverworts Cephaloziella massalongi and C. nicholsonii
Authors: Christina Campbell; David Holyoak; Daniel Kelly; Neil Lockhart; David Long; Noeleen Smyth
Affiliation: 1. Quinta da Cachopa, Cabeçudo, Portugal 2. Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland 3. National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Dublin, Ireland 4. Research Associate Bryology, Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, Scotland 5. Environmental Horticulture, University College Dublin, Ireland
Abstract: Former mine sites can provide habitat for many rare specialised bryophyte species that have adapted to metal-rich soil conditions which are toxic to most other plant species. Some of the bryophyte species found in this habitat are facultative metallophytes, and others are regarded as strict metallophytes, the so-called ‘copper mosses’. It is a general assumption in the literature that Cephaloziella massalongi and C. nicholsonii, both categorised as Endangered in the IUCN Red List for Europe, are also strict metallophytes and obligate copper bryophytes. This in vitro experiment investigated growth and gemmae production of these two species from different sites in Ireland and Great Britain on treatment plates of 0ppm, 3ppm, 6ppm, 12ppm, 24ppm, 48ppm and 96ppm copper. Results showed that C. massalongi and C. nicholsonii do not obligately require copper for their growth. The differences in response to the copper treatment levels among populations evident within both species could possibly be due to ecotypic variation. Implications for the species’ conservation are discussed.

Title: Bryophyte diversity and distribution patterns along elevation gradients of the Mount Etna, the highest active volcano in Europe
Authors: Marta Puglisi; Saverio Sciandrello
Affiliation: Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Catania, Via A. Longo 19, 95125 Catania, Italy
Abstract: The study of distribution patterns represents a useful method for deducing the influence of the climate and other variables in the local distribution of species. Bryophytes represent a valuable model for this type of survey because they have a high sensitivity to climatic conditions, wide distribution and are found from sea level to above the tree line. For this study we used all the available data (literature, herbarium), plus hundreds of original (Puglisi, 2010-2022), on the occurrence of bryophytes species on the Etna. Mt. Etna was divided into 33 belts 100 m wide, and the species richness of each altitudinal range was calculated as the total number of species per interval. Simple regression analyses are used to correlate life form, life strategy, chorotypes, total bryophyte flora, to log-area of each elevational. Regression analyses are performed using the statistical package Past Version 2.17.

Title: Seasonal hydration status of common bryophyte species in Azorean native vegetation
Authors: Márcia C.M. Coelho*, Rosalina Gabriel* & Claudine Ah-Peng
Affiliation: Universidade dos Açores, Dep. de Ciências Agrárias, Rua Capitão João d´Ávila, sn. Pico da Urze, Portugal
Abstract: Bryophytes play an important role in water-flow regulation through their unique water holding ability. Notwithstanding, almost no data exists on the quantification of the water inputs into the different ecosystems. This study aims to assess how Field Water Content (FWC) of 14 species varies along the year at different altitudes (40 m, 600 m and 900 m) in Terceira Island; how do climate variables (temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, vapour pressure deficit) affect FWC along four seasons; and what is the hydration level of the species, and how is Relative Water Content (RWC) related to the maximum holding water ability. Five samples (ca, 20 shoots/species) were monthly collected. Fresh, saturated and dry weight were obtained to get FWC and RWC. As expected, FWC increases along the elevation gradient, generally exhibiting higher values in wetter seasons, but patterns are not equal for all classes. RWC values show that the plants keep hydrated for the whole year, albeit never reaching their full capacity. Understanding how much native bryophytes, acquire, store, and release water into the system contributes to the knowledge of native vegetation resilience in the face of climate change and potential impacts on the availability and quality of the water resource — a major ecosystem service performed by bryophytes.

Title: Data to vulnerability and resilience assessment of Sicilian microthermic species to climate change
Authors: Patrizia Campisi
Affiliation: Department of Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies, University of Palermo, via Archirafi 38, I 90123 Palermo, Italy.
Abstract: Climate change is one of the main causes of extinction for microthermic species. These, therefore, constitute a component of the flora worthy of particular interest in studies on the quantification of the impact of global warming on biodiversity. In this work we focus on the Sicilian populations of microthermic bryophytes taking into account biological, ecological and distributive.

Title: Effect of the increase of heavy metal pollution in the Savone river on a moss and a liverwort
Authors: Cianciullo P1., Di Fraia A1., Insolvibile M2., Sorbo S., Basile A*, Maresca V
Affiliation: 1Dipartimento di Biologia, University of Naples Federico II, Complesso Univ. Monte Sant’Angelo, Via Cinthia 4, 80126 Napoli, Italy 2 ISPRA, Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, Rome, Italy 3Ce.S.M.A, Section of Microscopy, University of Naples Federico II, Complesso Univ. Monte Sant’Angelo, Via Cinthia 4, 80126 Napoli, Italy
Abstract: Environmental pollution, i.e. the deviation from an absolutely natural situation due to anthropic intervention, is something enormously complex and diversified in relation to a very large number of factors involved and, consequently, the response that living organisms implement it is just as varied and complex. Understanding the events that occur, however, is essential, not only to elucidate the complex biological response of the organisms studied, but also to be able to use the evidenced responses as potential biomarkers of pollution. The Savone is an Italian torrent, which arises from some springs in the north-east area of the Roccamonfina volcano caldera, between 600 and 650 meters above sea level, in the Roccamonfina municipality. Once its waters provided the energy needed to operate many ironworks and also some power plants located along its route. In recent years there has been an increase in the presence of some heavy metals. Bryophytes are often used as model study plants because of their ability to respond to pollution in general and heavy metal stress in particular, they could act both as bioindicators of elemental pollution and as bioremediation tools. In this study, the two bryophytes were studied, the aquatic moss Leptodyctium riparium Hedw, and the liverwort Conocephalum conicum L., which grow abundantly along the Savone river, both in the area of its springs and downstream from some inhabited centres. In particular: analyzes on bioaccumulation, ultrastructural and DNA damage and oxidative stress and resilience were conducted in vitro, in response to the concentrations of heavy metals measured in two sites along the Savone river (C1 and C2) representative of two different environmental conditions (source and after Roccamonfina), in an interval of 10 years: in the spring of 2011 and in the spring of 2021. The C1 site does not show different concentrations even after 10 years, while in the C2 site the metal pollution situation has increased. Bioaccumulation and bioconcentration data confirm that both bryophytes are good bioindicators. Our TEM observations showed a typically conserved ultrastructure of the chloroplasts in C1 samples (both 2011 and 2021), almost identical to the control sample chloroplasts (freshly collected and unexposed), while in C2 samples they appeared deformed, swollen and with little thylakoid development in a rather evident stroma, and the damage appears more evident in the 2021 samples than in the 2011 ones. DNA damage, antioxidant enzyme activity, ROS production and localization did not show any differences between the control and C1, on the other hand significant differences between samples C1 and C2, and the damage and responses appear more evident in the 2021 samples than in the 2011 ones. Both bryophytes, placed again in unpolluted conditions (C1), return to the of control for all the parameters considered. All the variations that have occurred respond coherently to the trend in the concentration of heavy metals, therefore we can propose them as biomarkers of pollution, moreover, the data on resilience demonstrate that, if environmental remediation actions were carried out, the plants, or at least the species considered, could recover from the damages caused by the environmental change suffered.

Title: Liverworts Communities of Riverbank, Wet Habitats, and Calcareous Tufa at the Marmore Falls (Umbria-Central Italy): First Characterization
Authors: 1Roberto Venanzoni & 2*Silvia Poponessi
Affiliation: 1Department of Chemistry, Biology and Biotechnology University of Perugia, Italy 2Department of Environmental and Life Science, Botany section, University of Cagliari, Italy
Abstract: Marmore Falls is the highest waterfalls in Italy made by ancient Romans about 200 years BC; it is formed by the Velino River which, in a single waterfall, pours into the narrow gorge of the Nera River with a drop of approximately 170 m. Calcareus rocks, riverbanks, wet habitats, and calcareous tufa, constitute a wonderful mosaic of habitats suitable for aquatic bryophyte communities, recognized as a priority habitat (marked *) under Annex I of the European Union Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) named “Petrified springs with tufa formation (Cratoneurion), 7220*”. Despite being a site of community importance, detailed studies are lacking. These habitats are fragile niches that preserve a unique bryological diversity but are threatened by ongoing climatic changes. For this reason, studies aimed at conservation are to be supported. In this first contribution the liverwort communities are described; these are bryophytic communities of extreme naturalistic value studied for the first time in Italy and which show important vicariances compared to the types described in central Europe, expanding knowledge on the distribution area. Infact, Bryo-sociological studies in Italy are still scarce and limited. The aim of the work is to show results on the characterization of all the tallose Liverworts communities found in springs, riverbanks and wet walls of streams, waterfalls, and ravines, on neutral-alkaline substrates and water. A Floristic, chorological, ecological and synthaxonomical chatacteristics is provided for the described associations of the following species: Apopellia endiviifolia (Dicks.) Nebel & D. Quandt; Conocephalum conicum (L.) Dumort.; Conocephalum salebrosum Szweyk., Buczk. & Odrzyk.; Pellia epiphylla (L.) Corda subsp. epiphylla; Marchantia quadrata Scop.; Marchantia polymorpha subsp. montivagans Bischl. & Boissel.-Dub.; Marchantia polymorpha subsp. ruderalis Bischl. & Boissel.-Dub. and Lunularia cruciata (L.) Dumort. ex Lindb. subsp. Cruciata. The characterisation of habitat 7220* should be emphasised. It is often limited to the presence of the Cratoneurion alliance only. The 170 phytosociological surveys were processed using multivariate statistical analysis, and the dendrogram obtained made it possible to highlight several groups of surveys attributed to at least 9 plant associations, 5 of which were new to Italy and Europe.