Funariaceae Underground – A Spore Bank for Physcomitrella patens and Physcomitrium eurystomum

Long-term survival of bryophytes underground: an investigation of the diaspore bank of Physcomitrium eurystomum Sendtn.

“…Diaspore banks allow many species of bryophyte to survive in a dormant state below ground and may be composed of spores, asexual propagules or fragments of the gametophyte (During 1997(During , 2001. Investigations involving germination trials have shown that a broad range of habitats around the world support a diverse reservoir of viable diaspores of bryophytes in their soils, for example including Antarctic fell fields, boreal forest, chalk grassland, coastal meadows, cultivated fields, dry tropical savanna, hot deserts, Mediterranean shrubland and woodland, tropical rain forest and various types of freshwater wetlands (Furness and Hall 1981;During and ter Horst 1983;During et al 1987;Leck and Simpson 1987;Smith 1987;Jonsson 1993;Poschlod 1993;Bisang 1996;Rydgren and Hestmark 1997;Bisang et al 2003;Eckstein 2006;During 2007;Caners et al 2009;Smith 2013;Ingerpuu and Sarv 2015;Malkowsky et al 2018;Callaghan et al 2020a). In fact, diaspore banks seem to be ubiquitous in soils wherever bryophytes occur and can be a critical aspect of the life strategy of some species.…”

“…It produces sporophytes abundantly and releases its large spores (30-40 μm diameter) close to the soil surface (2-5 mm height). Its germination from soil samples collected from wetland habitats suggests that it forms a persistent diaspore bank (Poschlod 1993;Eckstein 2006;Malkowsky et al 2018), although the potential longevity of the diaspores has not been investigated. The species has a broad geographical range, including parts of Africa, Asia, Australasia and Europe.…”