ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF BRYOPHYTES[AS BIOINDICATORS OF SOIL WATER AND AIR

POLLUTION]

By – Chetna Shukla under the guidance of:- DR.MOSSES SIR

• What Are Bryophytes?• Bryophyte (Bryon= moss, Phyton=plants) is a group of the

simplest and primitive plants of a group Embryophtya. These plants occupy apposition intermediate between the green thallophytes (algae) and pteridophytes.

• Bryophytes are called as amphibians of plant kingdom.• • Moss are those plants which are having rhizoids, axis and

leaves but are not having roots, stem and leaves.• • Bryophytes are mainly found in cool, moist and wet, shady

places. The plant commonly known as under vegetation.• • In India bryophytes are mainly distributed on Himalayan

ranges at the height of 4000ft. or higher above sea level.

• Their Economic Importance is different in different fields such as:-

• Medicinal use of Bryophytes

• Antibiotic activities of Bryophytes

• Bryophytes in experimental Botany

• As a Source Of Food• As Pollution Indicator• Ecological uses

• Medicinal Use Of Bryophytes:-• • Watt(1891) had reported to the medicinal use of Marchantia

polymorpha, and few species of Jungermannia, Anthocerose and Riccia.

• • • •

Marchantia polymorpha Riccia Anthocerose•

• Wren(1956),mentioned only Polytrichum juniperium in this connection.

• • • • Roig y. mesa(1945) mentioned that

amongliverworts Marchantia polymorpha has been used to cure Pulmonary Tuberculosisand affictions of the liver

•

• Hart well(1971) reported that extracts of• Marchantia polymorpha, M.stellata and • Polytrichum commune posses antitumour • properties.• • The dried Sphagnum is boiled in water,• The decoction is used in the treatment• Of acute Haemorrage and Diseases of • Eye.• • Tea made of Polytrichum commun• helps to dissolve stones of kidney• and gall bladder.

• Antibiotic activities of Bryophytes:-

• Hayes(1947) reported that aqueousextract of Conocephalum conicum is antibioticaly active.Conocephalum conicum and Dumortiera

• Hirsute is active against Candida albicans.

• Extract of of a species of Sphegnum inhibited The growth of Sarcina lutea.

• • • • Gupta and Singh(1971),reported

that the petroleum ether extracts of two species of mosses namely Barbula and are antibioticaly active against 33 bacterial species which include gram negative,gram positive and acid fast bacteria.

• Water retention• • Bryophytes have a high water-retention capacity due to their

structure, and tend to be most abundant in regions with high levels of atmospheric humidity and low rates of evaporation.

• They can quickly absorb water and release it slowly into the surrounding environment, and can, therefore, contribute to the retention of humid forest microclimates and the regulation of water flow.

• Perhaps more importantly, these properties allow forests to gradually release water into watercourses, preventing flash floods, erosion, and landslides downstream.

• The water retention properties of bogs are particularly impressive because of the absorptive properties of Sphagnum moss.

• A bog within a watershed, as can be found on some upland moorlands, is important far beyond its own geographical extent.

• If such a bog is unable to function, the disruption to the local hydrology can be catastrophic.

Sphegnum species

• Colonisation, soil stabilisation, and accumulation of humus:-

• Mosses are often the first plants to colonise newly exposed ground, bare rocks, and other abiotic surfaces.

• They are important in stabilising the soil crust, both in recently established and existing habitats, such as steep, sloping banks in woodland. They are also valuable in controlling erosion and hydric cycling. In semi-arid woodlands,bryophytes play important roles as colonisers and soil stabilisers in areas where soil surface conditions have declined as a result of increased infiltration (Eldridge 1993).

• In the tree canopy in tropical forests, where the soil often lacks a humus layer and is poor in nutrients, bryophytes also assist in the accumulation of humus on branches and twigs.

• Epiphytic humus accumulated by bryophytes can amount to as much as 2.5 tons/ha of dry matter in elfin cloudforests of East Africa (Pócs 1980).

• Bryophytes in experimental Botany:-• The liverworts and mosses have played an

important role as research tools in the various phases of botany such as genetics,experimental morphology and physiology,

• The mechanism of sex determination in plants was discovered for the first time in a liverwort Sphaerocarpos.

• Giminghan and Birse(1957) studied correlation between growth form and habitate in bryophytes.

• Ecological Uses• Bryophytes are among the oldest

land plants, few of them have reached many commercial importance, and their usefulness is known to few.

• Grosse-Brauckmann(1979) reported that there were indications of stone age uses of the moss Neckera crispa (feather moss) by prehistoric men in a lakeshore settlement in west Germany.

• Modern uses embrace ecology, horticulture, construction, household uses,medicines and even food.

• Bryophytes as a source of food:-

• • Bryophytes are not directaly

used as human food.However landley(1956) made mention Sphegnum as a wretched food in barbarous countries.

• • Bryum and Polytrichum

constitute the Chief diet of the Norwegian grouse chicks diet.

Bryum

• The capsules of Moor inhibiting mosses are Bryum

• The favourite food of of the red grouse chicks.

• • • Some English birds

such as field fare,song thrush and black bird include some mosses as a small part of their regular diet.

BIOINDICATORS

• Bryophytes as pollution indicator:-

• • Rubling and taylor(1979) showed

that both alive and air dried mosses particularly Sphagnum can absorb metals.The accumulation of heavy metals cations in mosses enables them to be used as atmospheric and aquatic pollution indicators and in mineralogical survey.

BRYOPHYTES AS INDICATORS OF WATER POLLUTION -

• The life form of bryophytes is very simple so they are more affected by water pollution than any other plant..

• It is due to following reasons –• The plant body is gametophytic soft and delicate.• They prefer to grow in moist and shady places.• The plants lack well developed vascular system comparising of

xylem and phloem.• They lack well developed root system but have rhizoids which help

in absorption of water.• Water is essential for fertilization.

• If water is absorbed the it either move from cell to cell or by external capillary space.

• Thus due to following reasons the polluted water affect the life forms including morphology,anatomy,fertilization,spore germination and physiology.

• Some aquatic bryophytes which are pollution tolerent species have been recomonded to moniter the level of pollution in water.These speciesb are –

• 1).Amblystegium riparium - cosmopoliton in distribution and found in running and stagnant water or sewage rich in nutrient.

• 2). Eurhynechium riparioides - found only in northern region of earth .it grow in river and pond of rich in nutrient.Empain(1967)andEmpain et.al.(1980)reported pollutants and heavy metal in these waters.

• 3).Fontinalis antipyretica - found only in northern region of earth and found in running and stagnant water . Welsh and Dinny(1980) and have analysed Cu and Pb and the moss.

• Pande et.al.(1986) ,and Sinha(1976) during a comprehansive study of river Ganga,have reported some specific Bryophytes which appear on its bank and are affected by river water quality.These are..-

• 1)- Riccia gangatica – pollution tolrent species tuberculate rhizoids and marginal scales are more developed in highly polluted sites.

• 2)-Riccia frostii – pollution senstive speciesgrows in lesser polluted sites.

• 3)-Funaria hygrometrica – found only in those sites where cremation takes place and benthic and margin soil is rich in Ca and P.

• 4)-Phsycomitrium indicum – It is a moss which absorbs heavy metals.

• Pandey et.el. (2001) have reported that bryophytes growing on river banks of ganga absorbs very high level of heavy metals like Cr,Zr and Ni.

BRYOPHYTES AS INDICATORS OF AIR POLLUTION -

• The bryophytes have been reported to be good indicators of air pollution.

• They are very senstive to air pollution due to their simple gametophytic body structure.

• The air pollutants are mainly of three types –• 1)-In form of gases. 2)-In form of particulate matter. 3)-Microorganisms

and spores\pollens of plants.• The bryophytes being very sensitive to gaseous and particulate matters,

are being used as bio indicators.• It is being reported that air pollutants affect the habitate and growt form

of bryophytes.• Within last century the Belgium bryoflora has lost 20 species of

liverworts and 94 species of mosses.• The Dutch bryoflora was depleted 15% of terrestial 13% of epiphytes.• In Amsterdam 23 species of bryophytes are now extinct from the city.

• The senstivity of bryophytes towards air pollution increases from terricolous to saxicolous and corticolous species.

• The moss protonema is more senstive than its mature gametophore(Gilbert, 1969).

• De Sloover and Le Blanc (1970) have also reported that fertility of bryophytes decreases as pollution level increases.

• Daly (1970) reported some bryophytes which are able to tolerate levels of solution on stone walls than on tree trunks.Some species are

Tortula princeps, Bryum rubrum, Ceratodon purpureus, and Pohila cruda.

• Air pollution inhibits gametangial formation and sexual reproduction in bryophytes. They also reduce photosynthesis by degrading chlorophyll and growth of plants and eventually cause their death.

• Metals and metalloid are accumulated by bryophytes from the substratum, wind-blown or in wet deposition. When the metal enters the cell, it inhibits the photosynthetic activity.

• Acidification may damage cell membranes, solubilize potentially toxic metals like Al3+ and worsen the impact of other pollutants like SO2 (Farmer et al., 1992).

• Aquatic bryophytes accumulate heavy metals from contaminated water to a much greater extent than vascular plants as the metal uptake is less seasonal and partly because they can absorb over their entire surface

• Bryophytes growing on stone walls can tolerate higher levels of pollution than those of tree trunks. In case of epiphytes species growing on tree base can cope with the pollution conditions better than those of tree trunks. Shady and alkaline niches are more preferred by bryophytes.

• Ecological Uses:-• • Liverworts and mosses have been found to

be good indicaters of enviromental conditions. For the first time Cajander(1926), in his theory of forest type in finland, used terrestrial bryophytes as one of the characterizing plants in classifying forest types. Their values as an indicator of certain forest habitats was further supported by Brinkman (1929) and Richards (1932).

• • Bell and Lodge (1963) showed that the

occurrence of the certain aquatic mosses could be correlated with calcium and nutrient contents in the water. Romanova (1965) and Jeglum (1971) founded that bryophytes indicated the condition of pH and water level in peat lands.

• Besides above mentioned uses of Bryophytes there is lots of uses related to environments,such as-

• As aids in soil conservation.• Formation of soil and development of

vegetation cover.• Bog succession• Role as rock builder.•

• As aids in soil conservation:-• • The mosses prevent sheet erosion of soil.they

grow in dense stands forming a mat or carpet like structure.this thik moss carpet serves a two folds function.Firstly it bears the impact of the falling rain drops and secondly it holds much of the water that falls.consequentaly the amount of run off is considerly reduced.

Soil erosion by bryophytes

• Besides there is no or little turbidity in the run off.

• Conard demonstrated that the turbid water flowing through the mosse mat is shorn much of its sediment.the inter twined moss stems and the underground rhizoids bind the soil partical together to a considerable depth.so firmly that there is no or little erosion even on a steepy hill side.Grout held that even the moss protonema mat checks soil erosion Mat formed by bryophytes

• Formation of soil and development of vegetation cover:-

• • The lichen and mosses play an important

role in soil formation.both are slow but efficient soil formers.The lichens however are the pioneers to colonise barren,bare rocky surfaces where no other plants can grow.the lichen thalli secretes organic acids which gradually dissolve and disintegrate the rocks to which they cling.the rock partical together with the dead and decayding older part of the lichen thalli form fertile soil.

• Mosses make their appearance when sufficient amount of this fertile soil gathers in the crevices of the rocks surface. Soil formation

• The progressive growth of and death of the older parts of the mosses adds to the substratum begun by the lichens.

• Dust and debrisblown by the wind rapidaly accumulate between the erect moss stem.

• In the course of time ,the depth of soil under under the moss mats may be more than one inch rich.

• The moss mats collect sufficient moistures and contains humus to faorm a suitable substratum for the growth of many rocks loving herbaceous plants. Vegetation of bryophytes

• Bog succession:-• • Weaver and Clements remarked that

mosses play an important role in bog succession from open water to climax forest.

• The mosses especially peat mosses established on the bonk of lakes and other shallow bodies of water extend inwards and grow over the surface of water with their stems interwined to form thi ck mats. These surface mats over bodies of water gives the appearance of solid soil.suchareas are called quacking bogs.

• The thick moss mat because of the moisture and humus forms a suitable substratum for the germination of the seed of various species hydrophytic plants.

• The older part of these plants gradually die and settle to the bottom.

• In the course of time,these lakes and shallow bodies of water become filled up with partially decomposed old parts of mosses and other hydrophytic plants.

• Thus the areas which originaly were sterile sheets of water,become converted into solid soil supporting vegetation.

• The mosses and hydrophytic angiosperms eventually disappear.they are replaced by forest growth of mesophyte type.

• The mosses thus play a vital role in changing the landscape.

Bog succession by bryophytes

• Role as Rock Builder:-• • Certain mosses such as Bryum,

Hypnum, Fissidense are growing in association with other aquatic plants such as chara play a remarkable role as rock builders.these plants grow in shallow waters of lakes,streams and springs which contain a large amount of Calcium bicarbonate.

• • The plant brings about

decomposition of bicarbonate ions by abstracting fee Carbon di oxide.the insoluble calcium carbonate precipitates.

•

• This insoluble mineral,on exposure,hardens forming calcareous(lime) rock like deposites around these plants.

• • These travertine deposites

continue to groe by the aid of mosses and algae growing in the water extending over areas of several hundreds square feet.

• • The travertine rock

deposites are extensively used as a building stones.

Bryophytes as rock builders.

• Some other extra importance of bryophytes

• • Large biomass:-• • In some tropical montane forests (for example,

those in• Los Nevados, Colombia), the dry weight of

epiphytic material in the upper canopy has been recorded at over 100kg/m², or about 12% of the total above-ground, dry tree weight (Hofstede et al. 1993). The total dry weight of epiphytes in these forests was estimated at 44 tons/ha (90%being bryophytes).

• Bryophytes formed more of the photosynthetically active (i.e., green) biomass in these forests than all the other plant groups put together. It is important to state that the bryophyte mass in this type of forest is a major component of the total biomass and is, therefore, an important component of the hydrological, chemical, and organic matter cycles (Hofstede et al. 1993,Rhoades 1995).

• Relationships with other organisms:-• • Bryophyte communities are critical to the survival of a

tremendous diversity of organisms, including insects, millipedes, and earthworms. Numerous arthropods, such

as acarinae and collembola, and tardigrades, are dependent on mosses and liverworts as habitat, or as a

food source.• The nutrient-rich, spore-producing capsules are

particularly palatable to some insects, and molluscs such as slugs. Bryophytes are also a food source for birds and

mammals in cold environments, and are eaten by reindeer,geese, ducks, sheep, musk-ox, lemmings, and

other rodents

• Bryophytes may also be important as nesting materialfor birds or act as protective habitat for amphibians. Forexample, in tropical montane forests, pendant or trailingmosses, specifically Papillaria, Floribundaria, Meteorium,and Squamidium, and a number of liverworts (e.g., Frullania and Plagiochila) are used in nest construction. Bryophytes also provide suitable substrates for blue-green algae (cyanobacteria); this species fixes nitrogen from the air into solid nitrogen compounds that are then accessible to plants (Bentley and Carpenter 1984).

• The cultural and aesthetic qualities of bryophytes:-• • Bryophytes have a deep, but generally unappreciated and

unrecognised place in the cultural heritage of many peoples.• They are an intrinsic part of the diversity and beauty of life.

They are worthy of protection at a level equivalent to that afforded to other species, habitats, ancient monuments,and great works of art.

• In Japan, growing mosses is a traditional part of horticulture (Ishikawa 1974), and there is a long history of bryophytes being used in gardening (Perin 1962) and as ornamental material for cultivation in landscape trays (Hirota 1981); the miniature landscapes beneath bonsai trees are created with mosses. Mosses are also planted in “moss-gardens”, particularly at Buddhist temples, where they create an atmosphere of beauty, harmony, and serenity,reflecting the spirit of Buddhism .

A Japanese moss garden (Kyoto, Japan).T. Hallingbäck

• In urban environments, bryophytes are very often a component of the surrounding vegetation, and can be found on buildings,trees, and walls (Fig. 3.3). Bryophytes can even prevent the negative effects of weathering of ancient buildings.

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