Cargando…

The Fate of Bryophyte Sporophytes—Phenology and Vectors of Buxbaumia viridis in the Kalkalpen National Park, Austria

Knowledge about the epixylic moss Buxbaumia viridis has increased significantly due to the monitoring obligation under the Habitats Directive. However, there are still open questions about its dispersal, as the wind plays a limited role in forest ecosystems, and vectors have been suspected but not y...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Kropik, Michaela, Zechmeister, Harald G., Fuxjäger, Christian
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7600345/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33036245
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants9101320
_version_ 1783603122508136448
author Kropik, Michaela
Zechmeister, Harald G.
Fuxjäger, Christian
author_facet Kropik, Michaela
Zechmeister, Harald G.
Fuxjäger, Christian
author_sort Kropik, Michaela
collection PubMed
description Knowledge about the epixylic moss Buxbaumia viridis has increased significantly due to the monitoring obligation under the Habitats Directive. However, there are still open questions about its dispersal, as the wind plays a limited role in forest ecosystems, and vectors have been suspected but not yet studied systematically for this species. Here, we present data on potential vectors of Buxbaumia viridis collected for the first time with the help of cameras, completed by monitoring the fate of sporophytes during their life cycle in the Limestone Alps National Park in Austria over a period of two years. Young, green sporophytes appeared mainly in autumn, with the highest number in October. Most of them survived winter and spring but did not exceed the age of 14 months. The sharpest decline in capsules occurred in summer when mature, and the lowest number of sporophytes appeared at the end of August. Most likely, mice seem to be responsible for this loss, as the photos from the wildlife cameras suggest, and should be considered both as predators and vectors. Birds should be considered as vectors, too. In summary, most of the reproductive biomass is sacrificed in favor of more effective dispersal, including over longer distances.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7600345
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-76003452020-11-01 The Fate of Bryophyte Sporophytes—Phenology and Vectors of Buxbaumia viridis in the Kalkalpen National Park, Austria Kropik, Michaela Zechmeister, Harald G. Fuxjäger, Christian Plants (Basel) Article Knowledge about the epixylic moss Buxbaumia viridis has increased significantly due to the monitoring obligation under the Habitats Directive. However, there are still open questions about its dispersal, as the wind plays a limited role in forest ecosystems, and vectors have been suspected but not yet studied systematically for this species. Here, we present data on potential vectors of Buxbaumia viridis collected for the first time with the help of cameras, completed by monitoring the fate of sporophytes during their life cycle in the Limestone Alps National Park in Austria over a period of two years. Young, green sporophytes appeared mainly in autumn, with the highest number in October. Most of them survived winter and spring but did not exceed the age of 14 months. The sharpest decline in capsules occurred in summer when mature, and the lowest number of sporophytes appeared at the end of August. Most likely, mice seem to be responsible for this loss, as the photos from the wildlife cameras suggest, and should be considered both as predators and vectors. Birds should be considered as vectors, too. In summary, most of the reproductive biomass is sacrificed in favor of more effective dispersal, including over longer distances. MDPI 2020-10-06 /pmc/articles/PMC7600345/ /pubmed/33036245 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants9101320 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Kropik, Michaela
Zechmeister, Harald G.
Fuxjäger, Christian
The Fate of Bryophyte Sporophytes—Phenology and Vectors of Buxbaumia viridis in the Kalkalpen National Park, Austria
title The Fate of Bryophyte Sporophytes—Phenology and Vectors of Buxbaumia viridis in the Kalkalpen National Park, Austria
title_full The Fate of Bryophyte Sporophytes—Phenology and Vectors of Buxbaumia viridis in the Kalkalpen National Park, Austria
title_fullStr The Fate of Bryophyte Sporophytes—Phenology and Vectors of Buxbaumia viridis in the Kalkalpen National Park, Austria
title_full_unstemmed The Fate of Bryophyte Sporophytes—Phenology and Vectors of Buxbaumia viridis in the Kalkalpen National Park, Austria
title_short The Fate of Bryophyte Sporophytes—Phenology and Vectors of Buxbaumia viridis in the Kalkalpen National Park, Austria
title_sort fate of bryophyte sporophytes—phenology and vectors of buxbaumia viridis in the kalkalpen national park, austria
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7600345/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33036245
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants9101320
work_keys_str_mv AT kropikmichaela thefateofbryophytesporophytesphenologyandvectorsofbuxbaumiaviridisinthekalkalpennationalparkaustria
AT zechmeisterharaldg thefateofbryophytesporophytesphenologyandvectorsofbuxbaumiaviridisinthekalkalpennationalparkaustria
AT fuxjagerchristian thefateofbryophytesporophytesphenologyandvectorsofbuxbaumiaviridisinthekalkalpennationalparkaustria
AT kropikmichaela fateofbryophytesporophytesphenologyandvectorsofbuxbaumiaviridisinthekalkalpennationalparkaustria
AT zechmeisterharaldg fateofbryophytesporophytesphenologyandvectorsofbuxbaumiaviridisinthekalkalpennationalparkaustria
AT fuxjagerchristian fateofbryophytesporophytesphenologyandvectorsofbuxbaumiaviridisinthekalkalpennationalparkaustria