Case Studies

Case studies give more detail about very specific topics. They are not essential for a good understanding of bryophytes and the text in a case study may be at a higher technical level than the rest of the website.

There are links to specific case studies from those parts of the website to which the case studies are relevant.

This page serves as the contents page for the case studies. You can get to the various case studies by following the highlighted links.

Below each link there is a one-sentence comment about the content of that case study. That sentence is not a full explanation of what's in the case study. Rather, it's a pithy reminder, intended more as a memory prompt. You vaguely remember that somewhere there was a mention of a case study about males being rare in desert mosses. Now where is it? You look down this page ....aha! Syntrichia!

Apical Cells
Growth of bryophyte gametophytes is under control of apical cells.

Baeomyces rufus
There is a cyclic swapping of dominance between bryophytes and the lichen Baeomyces rufus.

Barriers to sexual reproduction
Bryophytes may face various obstacles to sexual reproduction.

Bastow's Moss Chart
A diagramatic key to Tasmanian mosses from 1887.

Boundary layers
The slow-moving air near a surface - important to low-growing bryophytes.

Bridel-Brideri's common names
The first common names for Australian mosses were German and French.

Campylopus introflexus and Orthodontium lineare
These two mosses have spread widely through Europe.

Ceratodon purpureus after fire
The rise and fall of a pioneering, post-fire species.

Dampier's Leucobryum
A moss collected by William Dampier was mistakenly thought to have been collected in Australia.

Eocronartium muscicola
This fungus parasitizes mosses by displacing sporophytes.

Fungal basics
Definitions of some basic fungal terms.

Genetic diversity
Spores imply diversity, vegetative propagules imply uniformity. True or false?

Hymenoscyphus schimperi
This fungus parasitizes Sphagnum squarrosum.

Hypopterygiaceae
This page looks at the bryogeography of this moss family.

Life strategies
Bryophytes don't all follow the one life strategy.

Long distance dispersal
Winds may carry bryophyte spores thousands of kilometres.

Lophozia herzogiana
Did this leafy liverwort arrive in the United Kingdom via human agency?

Oicous or oecious?
Is it monoicous or monoecious or dioicous or dioecious?

Opportunities after Fire
Fire may lead to longer term changes in bryophyte communities.

Tasmania - recolonisation after fire
A study of post-fire bryophyte recolonisation in burnt areas.

Sand
Sand presents challenges - but many species have adapted to living on sand.

Spanish grass
In arid Spain even a single grass tussock provides varied micro-habitats.

Southern diversity
Why is there such diversity in the Southern Hemisphere liverworts?

Sphagnum and the water table
How does Sphagnum handle drops in water levels ?

Syntrichia caninervis
In this desert moss both males and sporophytes are very rare.

Taxonomic changes and bryogeography
Changes in taxonomy may force changes in ideas about bryogeography

Tetraphis pellucida
Colony density determines whether reproduction is sexual or vegetative.

Trianthema humillima
The "flowering" plant Trianthema humillima is really a moss.

Australian bryology since 2000
A listing of some recent literature, with background information on the authors.

Wood lemming
The diet of the wood lemming consists largely of mosses.