Some aspects of the moss population development on the Svalbard glaciers

Abstract

Glaciers are rather unusual habitat for mosses, but sometimes they can be suitable for some species due to presence of sufficient moisture and cryoconite substrate in the ablation zone. To date, moss populations were found only on a few glaciers in Alaska, Iceland and Svalbard. An origin and development of moss cushions on ice (so called "glacier mice") are still unclear. In this study, some aspects of the moss population development were explored on ice of the Svalbard glaciers – Bertilbreen (Billefjorden) and Austre Grnfjordbreen (Grnfjorden) in 2012 and 2013. On Bertilbreen, populations of Hygrohypnella polaris (Lindb.) Ignatov & Ignatova and Schistidium abrupticostatum (Bryhn) Ignatova & H.H. Blom were found for the first time. Due to putative morphological features, identification of S. abrupticostatum was confirmed by com-paring ITS1-2 nrDNA sequence data to BLAST searches (megablast). The results indicated a genetic heterogeneity of the population. Although visually moss-free, examination of cryoconite sediments revealed development of new individuals of S. abrupticostatum from filamentous structures consisting of caulonema and rhizoids. The developmental stages of young plants were revealed. Therefore, besides fragmen-tation of existing cushions, cryoconite sediments provided a source of new moss cush-ions in glacier populations. Additionally a few plants of Pohlia cf. wahlenbergii (F. Weber & D. Mohr) Andrews and a gametophyte fragment of Philonotis sp. were found in aggregation of cryoconite. Presence of Paludella squarrosa (Hedw.) Brid. reported for Bertilbreen has not been confirmed. On Austre Grnfjordbreen Bryum cryophilum Mrtensson, Sanionia uncinata (Hedw.) Loeske were found invading into some Hygrohypnella polaris cushions. Each moss polster on ice represents a separate mini-ecosystem that includes successive colonization events.

Cryogenian Glacial Habitats as a Plant Terrestrialisation Cradle – The Origin of the Anydrophytes and Zygnematophyceae Split

“…However, we emphasize that on physical, physiological, and molecular levels, the stress imposed by desiccation has similar consequences on the plant organisms as the stress imposed by freezing. The surfaces of recent glaciers with bare ice inhabited by simple Zygnematophyceae ( Williamson et al, 2019 ) and cryoconite occasionally colonized by long term populations of vegetatively propagating mosses ( Heusser, 1972 ; Belkina and Vilnet, 2015 ) are a living example of survival and growth strategies on glacial surfaces with possible implications for their common ancestor. Life on a melting glacial surface has one crucial advantage over life in the proglacial area in terms of the predictability of water availability driven by seasonal or daily changes in insolation.…”

“…Life on a melting glacial surface has one crucial advantage over life in the proglacial area in terms of the predictability of water availability driven by seasonal or daily changes in insolation. The production of liquid water can be facilitated by the attachment of organisms to darker particles with lower albedo than the surrounding ice, as observed in globular mosses (glacier mice) attaching to and accumulating cryoconite sediment ( Porter et al, 2008 ; Belkina and Vilnet, 2015 ). Alternatively, the same effect can be achieved by lowering the albedo of the cells by production and accumulation of pigments, such as purpurogallin in the case of glacial Zygnematophyceae ( Remias et al, 2012 ).…”

A contribution to the knowledge of bryophytes in polar areas subjected to rapid deglaciation: a case study from southeastern Spitsbergen

“…In the most recent survey of bryophytes of Svalbard, Frisvoll and Elvebakk [3] recorded 85 species of liverwort and 288 species of moss in this area. Over the following 2 decades, studies on the bryoflora continued [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24], providing much new distributional data for these plants in this Arctic archipelago. As the area of Svalbard is subjected to deglaciation in many places, new discoveries of species and changes in the frequency of species that are already known to exist there are to be expected.…”

“…The species is widespread in the north of the archipelago on Spitsbergen and Nordauslandet and in the southern part of Spitsbergen it is common in the Hornsund area [56]. The species was recorded on Barentsøya [2] and recently in Austre-Grønfjordbreen glacier (Grønfjorden) [20], Tordalen [24], Bertilbreen glacier surface in the environs of Pyramiden (Billefjorden) [23] and Edgeøya [21] (Fig. 4A).…”

Polish Polar Research

“…Loeske and species of the family Polytrichaceae, as well as the genera Bryum and Drepanocladus, were reported in the Kongsfjorden area (Moreau et al 2005(Moreau et al , 2008(Moreau et al , 2009. Recently, Belkina and Vilnet (2015) analysed some aspects of the development of moss population on Svalbard glaciers, and some species new to records of the Svalbard archipelago were published (e.g. Ellis et al 2016aEllis et al , 2016bEllis et al , 2017.…”