Bryophyte Ecology and Climate Change

Bryophytes, especially mosses, represent a largely untapped resource for monitoring and indicating effects of climate change on the living environment. They are tied very closely to the external environment and have been likened to 'canaries in the coal mine'. Bryophyte Ecology and Climate Change is the first book to bring together a diverse array of research in bryophyte ecology, including physiology, desiccation tolerance, photosynthesis, temperature and UV responses, under the umbrella of climate change. It covers a great variety of ecosystems in which bryophytes are important, including aquatic, desert, tropical, boreal, alpine, Antarctic, and Sphagnum-dominated wetlands, and considers the effects of climate change on the distribution of common and rare species as well as the computer modeling of future changes. This book should be of particular value to individuals, libraries, and research institutions interested in global climate change.

Table of Contents:
List of contributors; Preface; Part I. Introductory Chapters: 1. The ecological value of bryophytes as indicators of climate change Nancy G. Slack; 2. Bryophyte physiological processes in a changing climate: an overview Zoltán Tuba; Part II. Ecophysiology: 3. Climatic responses and limits of bryophytes: comparisons and contrasts with vascular plants Michael C. F. Proctor; 4. Effects of elevated air CO2 on bryophytes: a review Zoltán Tuba, Edit Ötvös and Ildikó Jócsák; 5. Seasonal and interannual variability of light and UV acclimation in mosses Niina M. Lappalainen, Anna Hyyryläinen and Satu Huttunen; Part III. Aquatic Bryophytes: 6. Ecological and physiological effects of changing climate on aquatic bryophytes Janice Glime; 7. Aquatic bryophytes under ultraviolet radiation Javier Martinez-Abaigar and Encarnación Núñez-Oliver; Part IV. Desert and Tropical Ecosystems: 8. Responses of a biological crust moss to increased monsoon precipitation and nitrogen deposition in the Mojave desert Lloyd R. Stark, D. Nicholas McLetchie, Stanley D. Smith and Melvin J. Oliver; 9. Ecology of bryophytes in Mojave desert biological soil crusts: effects of elevated CO2 on sex expression, stress tolerance, and productivity in the moss Syntrichia caninervis Mitt. John C. Brinda, Catherine Fernando and Lloyd R. Stark; 10. Responses of epiphytic bryophyte communities to simulated climate change in the tropics Jorge Jácome, S. Robbert Gradstein and Michael Kessler; Part V. Alpine, Arctic, and Antarctic Ecosystems: 11. Effects of climate change on tundra bryophytes Annika K. Jägerbrand, Robert G. Björk, Terry Callaghan and Rod Seppelt; 12. Alpine bryophytes as indicators for climate change: a case study from the Austrian Alps Daniela Hohenwallner, Harold G. Zechmeister, Dietmar Moserm, Harald Pauli, Michael Gottfried, Karl Reiter and Georg Grabherr; 13. Bryophytes and lichens in a changing climate: an Antarctic perspective Rod D. Seppelt; Part VI. Sphagnum and Peatlands: 14. Living on the edge: the effects of drought on Canada's western boreal peatlands Melanie Vile, Kimberli D. Scott, Erin Brault, R. Kellman Wieder and Dale H. Vitt; 15. The structure and functional features of sphagnum cover of the northern west Siberian mires in connection with forecasting global environmental and climatic changes Aleksei V. Naumov and Natalia P. Kosykh; 16. The southernmost sphagnum-dominated mires on the plains of Europe: formation, secondary succession, degradation and protection Janos Nagy; Part VII. Changes in Bryophyte Distribution with Climate Change: Data and Models: 17. The role of bryophyte paleoecology in quaternary climate reconstructions Gusztáv Jakab and Pál Sümegi; 18. Signs of climate change in the bryoflora of Hungary Tamás Pócs; 19. Can the effects of climate change on British bryophytes be distinguished from those resulting from other environmental changes? Jeffrey W. Bates and Christopher D. Preston; 20. Climate change and protected areas: how well do our rare bryophytes fare? Barbara J. Anderson and Ralf Ohlemuller; 21. Modeling the distribution of Sematophyllum substrumulosum (Hampe) E. Britton as a signal of climatic changes in Europe Cecília Sérgio, Rui Figueira and Rui Menezes; 22. Modelling bryophyte productivity across gradients of water availability using canopy form-function relationships Steven Rice, Nathali Neal, Jesse Mango and Kelly Black; Part VIII. Conclusions: 23. Bryophytes as predictors of greenhouse gas enrichment and current climate change L. Dennis Gignac; 24. Conclusions Nancy G. Slack and Lloyd R. Stark; Index.

About the Author :
Zoltán Tuba (1951–2009) was an internationally-known ecophysiologist based at Szent Istvan University, Gödöllö, Hungary. He established the first experimental Hungarian research station and field laboratory at Gödöllö for research on global climate change. His research covered a broad range of topics and he was one of the first to work on desiccation tolerance of bryophytes under elevated CO2. Nancy Slack teaches bryophyte ecology at the Humboldt Field Research Institute (ME) and is Professor of Biology Emerita at the Sage Colleges, Troy, NY. She has conducted research in bryology and plant ecology in the US, Canada and Sweden, especially on peatland and alpine ecosystems. She was recently President of the American Bryological and Lichenological Society (ABLS). Lloyd Stark is a plant reproductive ecologist interested in explanations of unbalanced sex ratios in bryophytes, how mosses respond to abiotic stress and climate change, and the factors limiting sexual reproduction in mosses. Lloyd is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he has recently been honored as the College of Sciences Teacher of the Year for his courses in ecology and general biology.