Thu, Aug 05, 2021: 2:30 PM-3:30 PM
Session Organizer:
Mandy L. Slate
Moderator:
Mandy L. Slate
Bryophytes represent nearly half a billion years of adaptation to life on land, and shape the ecology of terrestrial systems from the poles to equatorial regions. This incredibly diverse group of plants influences productivity, biogeochemistry, and functional ecology of ecosystems, but is often overlooked and understudied. Here we bring together some of the most recent and thought provoking research on bryophyte ecology. This session will highlight how bryophytes serve as “Vital Connections in Ecology” with research spanning taxonomic groups (mosses, liverworts), ecosystems (forests, arid grasslands), and a wide range of bryophyte-mediated interactions (above and below-ground, across trophic levels, and at various spatial scales).