Bryophytes

12 Key excerpts on "Bryophytes"

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  eBook - ePub

  Natural Products Chemistry

  Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Phytochemistry

  • Tatiana G. Volova, Debarshi Kar Mahapatra, Sonia Khanna, A. K. Haghi, Tatiana G. Volova, Debarshi Kar Mahapatra, Sonia Khanna, A. K. Haghi(Authors)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Apple Academic Press

    (Publisher)

  Bryophyta is a division of kingdom Plantae and contains a small group of lower plants, placed between algae and vascular plants. The word Bryophyta is derived from Greek words, “Bryon” meaning mass and “phyton” meaning plant. This division comprises of mosses, hornworts, and liverworts. They are groups of green plants that occupy a position between thallophytes (algae) and vascular cryptogams (pteridophytes). Bryophyta lacks a proper vascular tissues system and are not able to form seeds after fertilization; that is why they are considered as the most primitive type of embryophyta. Regarding the origin of bryophyte, two important scientific communities are there: one group believes that they are originated from algae, while the other believes that they are originated from pteridophytes. Bryophyata has alteration of generations, i.e., their life cycle contains two phases: gametophytic and sporophytic. These two generations have unique structures. Gametophytic-phase nutrients are directly absorbed by diffusion through the cells. These plants are very peculiar and sensitive and act as potent bioindicators for a few pollutants, and nowadays bioindicators are a very important field of concern. Lichens and Bryophytes are two important bioindicators.

  Le Blanc and Rao (1975) exploited an instrument called bryometer for the measurement of phytotoxic air pollution. Bryophyta alone or along with lichens gives valuable information about air pollutant by an index of atmospheric purity (IAP), which is based on the number, frequency coverage, and resistance factor of species.

  Bryophytes can be of two types on the basis of indicators of pollution:

  1. Species that are very sensitive and show visible symptoms or injuries at very low concentration of pollutants. These are a very good indicator.
  2. Species that are able to absorb and retain pollutants at a very high level as compared to other plants growing in the same habitat. These plants trap and prevent the recycling of such pollutants in the ecosystem for different periods of time. Analysis of such plants gives a fair idea about the degree of metal pollution.

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  Plant Biosystematics

  • William F. Grant(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Academic Press

    (Publisher)

  Biosystematics of Bryophytes: An Overview Robert Wyatt and Ann Stoneburner Department of Botany University of Georgia Athens, Georgia, U.S.A. INTRODUCTION Bryophytes have been treated traditionally as the division Bryophyta comprised of three classes: Musci (mosses), Hepaticae (liverworts), and Anthocerotae (hornworts). Crosby (1980a) estimated the relative sizes of these groups as 800 genera an 9,000 species of mosses, 400 genera and 5,500 species of liverworts, and five genera and 300 species of hornworts· Ot authors (e.g. Anderson 1980) have presented higher estimates, pointing out that the bryophyte flora of tropical regions rem largely unknown. Some recent authors, however, have chosen to recognize two (Bold 1977) or three (Crandall-Stotler 1980) divisions. Thes authors emphasize differences among these groups and also poi their presumed polyphyletic origins. Nevertheless, the origi Bryophytes is shrouded in mystery with some workers adhering the view that they are reduced vascular land plants (e.g. Miller 1974), while others maintain that Bryophytes represent an evolutionary line derived independently from green algal ancestors (e.g. Fott 1974). Study of recently discovered fossil gametophytes from the Rhynie Chert has convinced Remy (1982) that Bryophytes and vascular plants represent two parallel evolutionary lineages emerging from a nexus of Lower Devonian land plants. The former developed dependent sporophytes, while the latter featured independent sporophytes. This view is basically in accord with that of Steere (1969) and Crum (1976). Certainly it is true that much of the unity of Bryophytes as a group derives from their uniform possession of an alternation of generations unique among land plants. The sexual life cycle involves a dominant, free-living, haploid gametophyte alternating with a reduced, dependent, diploid sporophyte.

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  How the Earth Turned Green

  A Brief 3.8-Billion-Year History of Plants

  • Joseph E. Armstrong(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • University of Chicago Press

    (Publisher)

  SEVEN The Pioneer Spirit Wherein liverworts, hornworts, and mosses are examined to demonstrate their adaptations to terrestrial life and their relationships to each other and vascular plants. Bryophytic Graminaceous my lawn was, and not Bryophytic—that’s how it has got. I should stop, cut my losses, Embrace all these mosses, ’Cause I can’t grow much grass in this plot. —John Critten To some extent, Bryophytes, liverworts, hornworts, and mosses are the Rodney Dangerfield of land plants: “I don’t get no respect!” The botanists who study these organisms call themselves bryologists, and some of them claim they get no respect either. Why might this be the case? Well, they are small and frequently just trod upon without notice (the Bryophytes, not the bryologists). So for average people, many of whom suffer from plant blindness 1 anyways, Bryophytes simply fall below the perceptual horizon. Even avid naturalists and accomplished field biologists, the kind of people who easily identify vascular plants, often completely ignore the Bryophytes or can get no more specific than “It’s a moss.” Small size is only part of the problem; good field guides for Bryophytes seldom exist. Even when a field guide does exist, 2 the plethora of technical terms, the jargon, can be rather off-putting even for botanists if they are unfamiliar with bryophyte descriptive terminology. An illustrated glossary 3 can help, but how many books do you want to carry around? Unfortunately, most botany books, most botany courses, and, indeed, most botanical staffing decisions place an emphasis on seed plants, 4 so perhaps you can understand why bryologists feel a bit trod upon, a bit overlooked, themselves. As a result it comes as no surprise that most people, and even most botanists, know relatively little about liverworts, hornworts, and mosses. Yet according to our prevailing hypothesis, the first land plants were bryophytic organisms

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  Green Plants

  Their Origin and Diversity

  • Peter R. Bell, Alan R. Hemsley(Authors)
  • 2000(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  General features of the Bryophytes The mosses and liverworts, although morphologi-cally somewhat dissimilar, are classified together as the Bryophyta. Because of their distinctive fea-tures they are treated as a division of the plant kingdom, of a rank equal to that of the algal groups and the Tracheophyta (Table 1.2). There are about 25 000 species of Bryophytes in all. Three classes are recognized, namely Marchantiopsida, Anthocerotopsida and Bryopsida. They represent the simplest of the archegoniate plants and form a single division with the following characteris-tics: BRYOPHYTA Habitat Mainly terrestrial. Plastid pigments Chlorophylls a , b ; -carotene; xanthophyll (lutein). Food reserves Starch, to a lesser extent fats and oils. Cell wall components Cellulose, hemicelluloses. Reproduction Heteromorphic life cycle, the gametophytic phase normally the more con-spicuous, and the sporophytic determinate and partly dependent upon it. Sex organs with a jacket of sterile cells, the egg cells enclosed singly in flask-shaped archegonia. Zooidogamous, spermatozoids with two whiplash flagella. Embryogeny exoscopic. Sporophyte producing non-motile, cutinized spores, in some species with heavily thick-ened and sculptured walls, usually all of one size (homospory). Vegetative propagation of the gametophyte by fragmentation or spe-cialized gemmae. Growth forms of gametophyte Thallus flattened, with some internal gametophyte differentia-tion, or consisting of a main axis with leafy appendages. Although the simplest terrestrial plants, the bryo-phytes in some parts of the world form a conspic-uous component of the vegetation. They are, for example, prominent amongst the epiphytes of mist forests of tropical mountains. Some species form dense communities submerged in antarctic lakes. Vast bogs in the northern hemisphere have been built up largely by the growth of the moss Sphagnum .

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  Biodiversity in India Vol. 7

  • Rani, S Sandhya(Authors)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Regency Publications

    (Publisher)

  However, later on this term was applied exclusively to denote Bryophytes which comprise the Hepaticae, Anthocerotae and Musci now referred to as Marchantiophyta, Anthocerotophyta and Bryophyta. Bryophytes are more common in humid areas but are abundant during rainy seasons in drier areas too. However, they usually do not form a very conspicuous part of any vegetation. There are a few aquatic forms also namely Riccia fluitans, Ricciocarpus natans and Riella spp. Cryptothallus and Buxbaumia are the saprophytic genera of liverworts and mosses respectively. Generally, Bryophytes prefer microclimatic niches such as crevices of rocks and trees, and vicinity of small shady springs. Daniels and Kariyappa’s (2007) study on the bryodiversity of various vegetation types found in the Southern Western Ghats proves this since they found evergreen forests to have the highest diversity of Bryophytes than the rest of the vegetation types. They may grow on barks (corticolous) or leaves (epiphyllous or folicolous) of trees, rocks (rupicolous), pebbles and stones (saxicolous), logs (lignicolous), river banks and roadside cuts (terricolous). However, they also grow on strange substrata like old discarded/abandoned leather, rubber tyres and wooden goods, tiled and asbestos roofs, and mortar of stone and mud walls. Some Bryophytes have a remarkable capacity to endure drought and are usually known as the xeromorphic forms. They are the secondary colonizers on barren rocks after lichens. When compared to the rest of the autotrophic plants, the life cycle of Bryophytes is unique comprising of two distinct heteromorphic alternating phases, namely the haploid gametophytic phase which is the dominant one and the diploid sporophytic one dependent on the former for its survival. Most Bryophytes reproduce by specialised vegetative bodies known as gemmae which are produced either on leaves or specialized structures called gemma cups as in Marchantia spp.

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  Natural Bioactive Compounds

  Technological Advancements

  • Rajeshwar P. Sinha, h.c. Donat-P. Häder(Authors)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Academic Press

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 11: Novel biotechnological substances from Bryophytes

  Javier Martínez-Abaigar, and Encarnación Núñez-Olivera      Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad de La Rioja, Logroño (La Rioja), Spain

  Abstract

  Bryophytes are small and structurally simple plants consisting of around 20,000 species distributed in three evolutionary lineages (mosses, liverworts, and hornworts). Bryophytes usually occupy harsh environments where other photosynthetic organisms are little competitive. This capacity is based on the tolerance of Bryophytes to adverse environmental factors (particularly desiccation) and their economy in production, which in turn are found on diverse physiological mechanisms and ecological adaptations. One of these mechanisms is the outstanding capacity of Bryophytes to produce bioactive compounds with diverse biological functions. In particular, liverworts can synthesize a great variety of terpenoids, and the three bryophyte lineages can produce phenolic derivatives (from simple cinnamic acids to complex flavonoids), alkaloids, and lipids. These compounds, many of them specific, contribute to the development of special smells and flavors and may have both positive (antibiotic, fungicidal, deterrent, herbicidal, antioxidant, cytotoxic, antidiabetic) and negative (allergenic) properties for human beings. Bisbibenzyls and sesquiterpenoid derivatives in liverworts and the diterpenoid derivatives momilactones in mosses are the most relevant compounds. Of particular interest is the recent possibility to use model Bryophytes (the moss Physcomitrella patens and the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha

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  Fundamentals of Botany

  • Davis, Z(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Agri Horti Press

    (Publisher)

  Cannot be resold/distributed. Bryology: The Liverworts and Mosses 241 are now usually given their own division. The use of the division name Bryophyta sensu latu is still found in the literature, but more frequently the Bryophyta now is used in a restricted sense to include only the mosses. Another reason that liverworts are now classified separately is that liverworts appear to have diverged from all other embryophyte plants near the beginning of their evolution. The strongest line of supporting evidence is that liverworts are the only living group of land plants that do not have stomata on the sporophyte generation. The earliest fossils believed to be liverworts are compression fossils of Pallaviciniites from the Upper Devonian of New York. These fossils resemble modern species in the Metzgeriales. Another Devonian fossil called Protosalvinia also looks like a liverwort, but its relationship to other plants is still uncertain, so it may not belong to the Marchantiophyta. The Marchantiophyta is subdivided into two classes. The Jungermanniopsida includes primarily the two orders Metzgeriales (simple thalloids) and Jungermanniales (leafy liverworts), as well as a smaller order Haplomitriales. The Marchantiopsida includes primarily the orders Marchantiales (complex-thallus liverworts) and Sphaerocarpales (bottle hepatics), as well as the problematic genus Monoclea , which is sometimes placed in its own order Monocleales. HORNWORT Hornworts are a group of Bryophytes, or non-vascular plants, comprising the division Anthocerotophyta. The common name refers to the elongated horn-like structure, which is the sporophyte. The flattened, green plant body of a hornwort is the gametophyte plant. Hornworts may be found world-wide, though they tend to grow only in places that are damp or humid. Some species grow in large numbers as tiny weeds in the soil of gardens and cultivated fields.

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  Tropical Plant Types

  Pergamon International Library of Science, Technology, Engineering and Social Studies

  • B. G. M. Jamieson, J. F. Reynolds(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Pergamon

    (Publisher)

  C H A P T E R 4 Bryophyta—Liverworts and Mosses THE phylum Bryophyta contains three classes: 1. Hepaticae or liverworts. 2. Musci or mosses. 3. Anthocerotae, a group sometimes classed with the liverworts. All are inconspicuous plants except when massed. They show alter-nation of generations which has been defined on p. 38 and is discussed in detail in Chapter 6. The plant which is recognized as a liverwort or as a moss is a gametophyte, that is to say, a haploid plant which gives rise to gametes whose union produces the zygote and hence the sporophyte. Archegonium The Bryophyta differ from the algae, but resemble the ferns (Pteri-dophyta) and certain seed plants (Gymnospermae), in having the female gamete enclosed in a flask-like multicellular structure termed the arche-gonium which is embedded in the tissues of the gametophyte. The archegonium (Fig. 43B) consists of a rounded basal portion, the venter, and a more slender terminal portion, the neck. The wall or jacket of the archegonium (including the neck) surrounds an axial column of cells arranged in single file which consist of a variable number of neck canal cells, a ventral canal cell and a large basal egg cell (oosphere). In all plants with archegonia (collectively termed the Archegoniatae) the male gametes are motile and usually require external water in which to reach the archegonium. Within the archegonium fertilization and development of the embryo sporophyte occur. Sporophyte In Bryophytes, the sporophyte is throughout the whole of its life nutri-tionally dependent on the gametophyte. This contrasts with the Pteri-dophyta (e.g. ferns) where the sporophyte becomes the dominant generation 81 82 TROPICAL PLANT TYPES and is only dependent as an embryo on the gametophyte, and with the Spermatophyta where the female gametophyte has come to be wholly dependent on the sporophyte for its nutrition.

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  Introduction to Plant Fossils

  • Christopher J. Cleal, Barry A. Thomas(Authors)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  Fungi were the most obvious discrepancy because their nutrition is based on a saprophytic existence – the decomposition of plant and animal residues. Fungi were therefore eventually assigned to their own kingdom. As biologists looked more closely at the microscopic world, the position became even more complex. Many authors today do not regard plants as a systematically coherent group of organisms. The organisms that most of us would refer to as land plants are instead sometimes referred to as emBryophytes, which are formally defined as those organisms that have alternating sexual (gametophyte) and asexual (sporophyte) gener- ations, and where the gametophyte produces an embryo (alternating generations, Fig. 4.2). Some simple algal organisms have alternating sexual and asexual generations, but they do not produce embryos. Animals produce embryos but of a fun- damentally different type, consisting of a hollow ball of cells that is usually detached from the tissue of the mother; the embryophyte embryo, in contrast, is a solid structure that remains embedded in the maternal tissue. Whilst accepting this formal definition of emBryophytes, for convenience we will continue through the rest of this book to refer to them as plants. In this context, plants consist of charophytes, Bryophytes and vascular plants (also known as tracheophytes), together with some primitive non-vascular plants found mainly in Early Palaeozoic floras. Bryophytes, which today include mosses, hornworts and liverworts, are perfectly adapted to life on land but have never developed into large organisms, as have the vas- cular plants. Vascular plants include most land vegetation such as ferns, sphenophytes (‘horse- tails’), lycophytes (‘club mosses’), gymnosperms and angiosperms. Their main defining feature is a

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  Reproductive Biology of Plants

  • Kishan Gopal Ramawat, Jean-Michel Merillon, K. R. Shivanna, Kishan Gopal Ramawat, Jean-Michel Mérillon, K. R. Shivanna, Jean-Michel Merillon(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  in culture and in the wild. J. Bryol. 19: 219–227. Glime, J.M. 2007. Bryophyte Ecology. Michigan Technological University/Botanical Society of America/International Association of Bryologist. Available at: [accessed 01 May 2013]. Goffinet, B. and W.R. Buck. 2013. The evolution of body form in Bryophytes. Annu. Plant Rev. 45: 51–90. Goffinet, B., W.R. Buck and A.J. Shaw. 2009. Morphology, anatomy, and classification of the Bryophyta. In : B. Goffinet and A.J. Shaw (eds.). Bryophyte Biology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 55–138. Gradstein, S.R. 1991. Diversity and distribution of Asian Lejeuneaceae subfamily Ptychanthoideae. Trop. Bryol. 4: 1–16. Gradstein, R. and J. Uribe. 2011. A synopsis of the Frullaniaceae (Marchantiophyta) from Colombia. Caldasia 33: 367–396. Gradstein, S.R., S.P. Churchill and N. Salazar-Allen. 2001. Guide to the Bryophytes to Tropical America. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 86: 1–577. Reproduction in Bryophytes 81 Gradstein, S.R., R. Wilson, A.L. Ilkiu-Borges and J. Heinrichs. 2006. Phylogenetic relationships and neotenic evolution of Metzgeriopsis (Lejeuneaceae) based on chloroplast DNA sequences and morphology. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 151: 293–308. Graham, L.E. 1996. Green algae to land plants: an evolutionary transition. J. Plant Res. 109: 241–251. Hedenäs, L. and I. Bisang. 2011. The overlooked dwarf males in mosses—unique among green land plants. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 13: 121–135. Herrnstadt, I. and G.J. Kidron. 2005. Reproductive strategies of Bryum dunense in three microhabitats in the Negev Desert. Bryologist 108: 101–109. Hughes, J.G. 1969. Factors conditioning development of sexual and apogamous races of Phascum cuspidatum Hedw. New Phytol. 68: 883–900. Imura, S. 1994. Vegetative diaspores in Japanese mosses. J. Hattori Bot. Lab. 77: 177–232. Jesson, L.K., A.P.

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  Aquatic Plants of Pennsylvania

  A Complete Reference Guide

  • Timothy A. Block, Ann Fowler Rhoads, Anna Anisko(Authors)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • University of Pennsylvania Press

    (Publisher)

  Continuing evolution of the land flora resulted in secondary adaptation to aquatic environments. This “return to water” has occurred in all major groups of land plants: Bryophytes, quillworts, horsetails, ferns, and flower-ing plants (see Figure 1.1 on page 2). Thirty-six families of flowering plants are represented in this book, including members of the basal angiosperms, monocots, and dicots (Table 1.1). Table 1.1. Representation of Land Plant Lineages in the Aquatic Flora of Pennsylvania (see Appendix for a full list of species) TAXONOMIC GROUP FAMILIES SPECIES Bryophytes liverworts 1 2 mosses 3 3 Quillworts 1 5 Horsetails 1 2 Ferns 2 2 Flowering plants basal angiosperms 2 6 monocots 14 110 dicots 20 62 2 E V O L U T I O N A N D E C O L O G Y Plants have evolved a variety of growth forms to take advantage of the full range of aquatic habitats. Emergent plants occupy lake and stream margins where their roots can be under water but the stems and leaves are largely above the surface. Rooted plants with floating leaves such as water-lilies ( Nymphaea and Nuphar spp.) and watershield ( Brasenia ) are limited to water depths to about 1.5–2 m. The leaf blades are attached by long petioles to rhi-zomes imbedded in lake or streambed sediments. Free-floating plants such as the duckweeds ( Lemna spp.), watermeals ( Wolffia spp.), and water flaxseed ( Spirodela punctata ) are independent of water depth, but winds and waves usually push them toward the lake or stream margins except on small ponds, where they may cover the entire surface. Rooted submergent species such as waterweed ( Elodea spp.) are limited to depths where light penetration is sufficient to support photosynthesis. This can vary from less than 1 m in very turbid water to 3–4 m or more in excep-tionally clear lakes.

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  Biology Today

  An Issues Approach

  • Eli Minkoff, Pamela Baker(Authors)
  • 2003(Publication Date)
  • Garland Science

    (Publisher)

  The simplest plants containing separate types of tissues are the mosses, liverworts, and hornworts, often grouped as Bryophyta and also known as nonvascular plants. The most familiar and ecologically dominant group of plants are the vascular plants , including all plants that have vascular (conducting) tis-sues that transport fluids, generally through tubular cells surrounded by rigid cell walls. Vascular plants contain two types of conducting tissue: 378 THOUGHT QUESTIONS 1 Why do you think plants take up NO 3 – or NO 2 – ions but not NH 4 + ions? 2 Some plants have mutualistic associations with bacteria in root nodules. Do humans also have mutualistic associations with bacteria? 3 What is the definition of acidity? How does the uptake of NH 4 + ions by some plants make the soil around them more acidic? CONNECTIONS CHAPTER 6 Plants Use Specialized Tissues and Transport Mechanisms 379 xylem, which usually conducts water and minerals upward, and phloem, which conducts a water solution of photosynthetic products (mostly sugars) in both directions but more often downward. The existence of these vascular tissues allows the parts of the plant to specialize (Figure 11.9). The roots grow underground, anchor the plant in the soil, and absorb water and dissolved nutrients. The vascular tissues conduct the water and nutrients from the roots through the xylem of the stem to the above-ground parts, where the water is needed for both photosynthesis and support of the upper parts of the plant. The roots can receive photo-synthetic products through the phloem from the chlorophyll-containing tissues above. Roots thus need not contain chlorophyll or carry out pho-tosynthesis themselves, so they are not green and do not require light. Vascular tissues have rigid cell walls, and, as we see in the next sec-tion, water pressure makes plant tissues even stronger as well as helping plants to stand upright.

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