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Tasmania’s wet forests: teeming with mosses and liverworts Dr. Perpetua Turner Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Tasmania Forestry Tasmania National Science Week Talk Exhibition Hall, 79 Melville Street, Hobart 18 August 2005 Mosses and liverworts = Bryophytes What are bryophytes? Why are they important? How many species in Tasmania? How many species in Tasmanian wet eucalypt forest? Identifying bryophytes: examples of some bryophytes you might come across in wet eucalypt forest Forest bryophyte research in Tasmania: who, what, where, why? © Grove Mosses and liverworts = Bryophytes ‘Bryophyte’ refers collectively to non-vascular plants of the Divisions Bryophyta (mosses), Hepatophyta (liverworts) and Anthocerophyta (hornworts) A bryophyte is a small plant that has no woody tissue (lignin), no conducting tissue (vascular system), no roots, roots no flowers, flowers no seeds, seeds no fleshy fruit…. fruit So what does a bryophyte have? © Grove Moss leaves with or without a nerve Liverwort leaves without a nerve bilaterally symmetrical radially symmetrical rhizoids unicellular rhizoids multicellular Oil bodies Leaves, stems, nerves, rhizoids, oil bodies, …………………. ………………….but no flowers! Bryophytes are non-flowering plants These are a bryophyte flowers! © Robinson Why are bryophytes important? Nutrient and water retention Habitat for invertebrates Help decay wood Stabilise the soil Indicators of climate change Habitat for flowering plants How many bryophytes? 16 0 0 16000 14 0 0 14000 12 0 0 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 Mosses Liverworts Flowering plants Number of species Number of species 12000 10 0 0 800 600 400 200 0 Bryophytes : Vascular plants in Tasmania Cool temperate Old growth ~ 40 year old wet rainforest mixed forest eucalypt forest 4:1 3:1 4:1 Bryophytes: ~ 220 spp. Bryophytes: 50 - 110 spp. Bryophytes: 33 - 89 spp. Vascular plants: 70 - 80 spp. Vascular plants: 17 - 39 spp. Vascular plants: 12 - 49 spp. © Jarman & Fuhrer © Grove 1:1 © Robinson 1:5 4:1 1:3 3:1 1:4 Identifying forest bryophytes – where to start? Thin k ha bitat ? Think help! Hobart Herbarium Thin k s ha pe, s ize, s truct ure nk i h T re u t ra lite Mosses Sphagnum spp. Sphagnum peat is mined in Tasmania Important ecologically for water retention © Jarman & Fuhrer Sphagnum is said to cover 1% of the earths surface (equivalent to half of the USA) 20 mm © J-P. Frahm Mosses Rosulabryum billiardieri 5 mm © Frahm Tayloria gunnii This moss likes to grow on animal droppings © C.Rosser © S. Grove Mosses Cosmopolitan species © J-P. Frahm Neckera pennata Ceratodon purpureus - A fire moss © Robinson Mosses Ceratodon purpureus © Robinson © Clarke © MacNeil © Clarke © Robinson Mosses Ceratodon purpureus © Robinson http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/livingthings/16jul_firemoss.html Mosses Dawsonia superba © Cairns 5 mm This moss grows up to 20 cm – which is large for a moss! © Cairns Mosses ………some look like ferns 10 mm Cyathophorum bulbosum © C. Rosser © J-P. Frahm Thallose liverworts Marchantia berteroana 10 mm ©©Jarman Fuhrer Jarman& and Fuhrer An important pioneer species – it LOVES disturbed areas © S. Grove Leafy liverworts 2 mm Chiloscyphus semiteres Heteroscyphus coalitus © D. Callaghan 3 mm © Meagher & Fuhrer © Meagher & Fuhrer Leafy liverworts 5 mm Gackstroemia weindorferi 5 mm © Jarman & Fuhrer Different shapes and sizes = different ecological roles Treubia tasmanica © Jarman & Fuhrer Leafy and thallose liverworts – some quirks... 8 mm Plagiochila strombifolia Smells like ‘parsnips’ Riccardia cochleata Said to smell like foxes! © Jarman & Fuhrer © Jarman & Fuhrer Forest bryophyte research Research projects - Warra LTER Ecology and conservation of bryophytes in wet eucalypt forest Turner 2003. PhD. Thesis, University of Tasmania www.warra.com Forest bryophyte research Forest age ~ 40 yrs 0 – 18 yrs www.warra.com Old growth > 110 yrs © Robinson © Frahm © Frahm © Meagher & Fuhrer © Jarman & Fuhrer © Robinson © Jarman & Fuhrer Forest bryophyte research www.warra.com Research projects - Warra LTER Forestry impacts on wet eucalypt forest cryptogams Jarman and Kantvilas 1995 Successional trends and management impacts among non-vascular plants in the Warra silvicultural systems trial Kantvilas and Jarman 1997 © Callaghan Forest bryophyte research www.warra.com Research projects - Warra LTER Recolonisation of mixed forest by bryophytes following regeneration burning Duncan and Dalton 1982 Fire mosses! © Robinson Forest bryophyte research Research projects - general Tree-ferns as a substrate for bryophytes and ferns in south-eastern Tasmania Roberts 2002. Hons. Thesis, University of Tasmania. © Meagher & Fuhrer © Meagher & Fuhrer Forest bryophyte research Research projects - general Investigation of vascular plant and cryptogamic community congruence Mc Mullan-Fisher. PhD. Thesis, University of Tasmania. Forest bryophyte research Research projects - general Population Viability Analysis of the thallose liverwort Riccardia cochleata. Fox, Bekessy and Turner; University of Melbourne and University of Tasmania. © Jarman & Fuhrer Forest bryophyte research Research projects - general Managing a neglected component of biodiversity: a study of bryophyte diversity in production forests of Tasmania's north-east Pharo and Blanks 2000 Australian Forestry Forest bryophyte research Research projects - general Growth dynamics and early control of bryophyte competition affecting young Eucalypt propogation Bailey 2005. Hons. University of Tasmania © MacNeil © MacNeil Forest bryophyte research www.warra.com Research projects - Warra LTER Establishment of a wildfire chronosequence benchmark set in wet eucalypt forest Turner 2005 Time If wildfire occurs? 1967 wildfire regrowth 1934 wildfire regrowth 1898/1906 wildfire regrowth Pre-1898 old-growth Post-1990 CBS regen 1967 CBS regen Space 1934 + 1967 wildfire regrowth Bryophytes Contribute to biodiversity Inhabit a range of substrates in wet/dry environments Provide a home for invertebrates, flowering plants, fungi….. Assist in the decay of wood Play a role in nutrient and water retention © Grove Acknowledgements Dr Jean Jarman Dr Emma Pharo numerous photographers Jarman, S.J. and B.A. Fuhrer Mosses and Liverworts of rainforest in Tasmania and south-eastern Australia. CSIRO Australia, and Forestry Tasmania, 1995. (134 pp.) ISBN 0643 056 858. Meagher, D & Fuhrer, B. 2003. A field guide to the mosses and allied plants of southern Australia. Flora of Australia Supplementary Series Number 20. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra. © Grove
