Recent developments in bryophyte population ecology

Abstract

Bryophytes abound in a wide variety of habitats, and despite their low stature play a significant role in many ecosystems. Earlier views of bryophytes as being ‘evolutionary failures’ are being questioned since the discovery of high genetic variability in those species and populations which have been studied. At the same time, there is growing evidence that in many taxa the maintenance of populations is almost completely dependent on asexual propagation; sexual reproduction may result in an enormous spore output, but establishment from spores in the field seems to be very difficult. The remarkably rapid fine-scale dynamics found in many bryophyte populations may play a role in the maintenance of genetical variability; it may also partly determine community diversity.