The sorption abilities of seven moss species growing on the area of Bory Stobrawskie forest (southern Poland) were tested in laboratory. Sorption was carried out in solutions of Zn and Cd chlorides. It has been shown that the sorption properties depend on the moss species and increases in the series as follows: Polytrichum commune < Leucobryum glaucum < Eurhynchium praelongum < Thuidium tamtari...

The Santa Monica Mountains, adjacent to the Pacific Ocean just west of Los Angeles, California, have low elevation, high relief and a Mediterranean climate. To date 122 species of bryophytes have been found, especially in the moist drainages. Species that were common (about half of the 122) were compared in terms of microhabitat variables (substrate softness, moisture, slope and shadiness) and ...

The earliest land plants faced a suite of abiotic stresses largely unknown to their aquatic algal ancestors. The descendants of these plants evolved two general mechanisms for survival in the relatively arid aerial environment. While the vascular plants or 'tracheophytes' developed tissue specializations to transport and retain water, the other main lineages of land plants, the bryophytes, reta...

The mechanisms for translocation of heavy metals from soil to epigeal mosses were investigated. The first mechanism was demonstrated for (137)Cs and involved the uplifting of the pollutant-containing dust from the soil, followed by the local secondary deposition on surfaces of epigeal mosses and epiphytic lichens. The second mechanism involved the diffusion of metal cations from the soil throug...

In an earlier paper (1) accumulation of radioactive fall-out by plants in the English Lalte District was related to the mineral content of the various species, with both mosses and angiosperms low in mineral ash showing nluch more radioactivity than plants of high mineral content in the same groups. The present study compares radioactivity of ash from lichens, mosses, and angiosperms, using som...