The Lacandon Forest (Chiapas, Mexico): A Benchmark Area for Tropical Mosses

M., Claudio Delgadillo; S, Ángeles Cárdenas

doi:10.1639/0007-2745(2002)105[0327:tlfcma]2.0.co;2

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 22 publications

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“…88 [27] Picea abies managed SW Sweden All? 56-72 [27] Boreal old-growth swamp Sweden All 195 [24] Sub-boreal spruce B C, Canada Ground, epiphyte 46, 1 [28] Populus tremuloides SW QC, Canada Epiphytes 41 [29] Forest patches central Norway All 285 [30] Evergreen laurel Madeira Island, Portugal Epiphytes 110 [31] Submontane rainforest Bolivia Epiphytes 80 [32] Quercus copeyensis, cloud forest Costa Rica Tree trunks 44 [33] Mountain rainforests Ecuador Epiphytes 65 [34] Neotropical lowland Guianas Epiphytes 154 [35] Upper montane oak Costa Rica All 206 [36] Cloud forest Monteverde, Costa Rica All 190 [37] European Terceira Island, Azores All 106 [38] Mediterranean Tuscany, Italy Ground, epiphytes 128 [39] Tropical rainforest Chiapas, Mexico Major habitats 136 [40] Atlantic Forest SE Brazil All (only liverworts) 238 [41] Swamp and upland evergreen Atewa Forest, Ghana Altitudinal gradient 164 [42] Old-growth forests tend to have more bryophyte species than do early successional stages [43]. In western Massachusetts, USA, for example, old-growth forests had nearly twice the number of epiphytic bryophyte species found in second-growth forests.…”

Section: Richnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Roles of Bryophytes in Forest Sustainability—Positive or Negative?

Glime

2024

Sustainability

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Bryophytes were traditionally ignored in most studies of forest ecosystem processes, or they were included with litter or soil. In the last few decades we have begun to understand their many roles that permit them to be ecosystem engineers. This review serves to pull together many scattered sources into a single source on the many contributions bryophytes can perform as ecosystem engineers and to support what several authors have already stressed: that bryophytes should not be treated as a single functional group. It puts bryophytes in perspective in terms of richness and biomass, then explores their roles as ecosystem engineers; that is, their roles in altering diversity, nutrient cycling, carbon sequestering, water retention, erosion depression, temperature modification, fire protection, fire and logging recovery, interactions with mycorrhizal fungi, effects on seed germination, and seedling survival. Interactions with other species are mentioned, but those regarding animals are largely omitted in favor of more detailed description of their relationships with trees throughout the world. Bryophytes provide both positive and negative interactions with forest trees, depending on the tree species, the ecosystem, and the bryophyte species. It is clear that different bryophytes have many different functional roles in sustaining the forest and making it suitable for germination, seedling success, and maintaining the mature forest. This review indicates those important roles and how they apply differently according to both tree and bryophyte species, and that different management practices are needed, depending on both bryophyte species and tree species, to sustain different forest types.

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