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14 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Most successful moss on planet? |
Sphagnum
a bog moss |
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Distribution of Sphagnum? |
3% of earths surface
found in all of earths most environments
more biomass of it than any other plant in world |
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Features of Sphagnum leaves? |
only one cell thick
leaves have many thick dead cells that act as water reservoirs |
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How does the Sphagnum form peat in the bogs? |
the part of the plant above the soil is only small portion of the plant
most of plant is under soil
the bottom-most part of the plant dies and becomes compacted as the plant is continuously growing
considered to be an immortal system |
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How can sphagnum cause a monoculture on bogs? |
can outcompete, killing all other species until it is only one left |
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Some implications of peat harvesting? |
only topmost plant is removed, potentially killing plant
peat bogs represent huge carbon store |
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How does Sphagnum obtain absorb the scarce cations from the bog?
Implications to the bog? |
Has a group of acids called hyaluronic acids
these attract the anions
doing so releases hydrogen into bog, making it acidic
the acidity kills other plants, leading to its monoculture |
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Bimedical uses for Sphagnum? |
Wound dressings
tannins in bog have antimicrobial properties |
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Other sources of peat for compost? |
Cocconut coir
stops Sphagnum harvesting
using otherwise wasted coconut coir |
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What is the the main reason as to why Sphagnum is successful? |
Asexual reproduction due to fragmentation, and its subsequent continual growth |
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Other than fragmentation how else can Spagnum reproduce? |
Sporophytes occasionally produced
allowing long-range dispersal, much further than fragmentation
their sporangia (tops of sporophytes than contain the spores) EXPLODE |
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How does their sporangia explode? |
Sporangia includes spores and layer of packing tissue
layer of packing tissue dies
pressure within sporangia increases as it dries out, until it is forced out
20cm above bog, can be caught by wind, carried far far away |
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How is Polytrichum a strange Bryophyte? |
has a stiff stem, stiffness comes from large, thick cells that are dead at maturity
this provides a tube for water a minerals to travel through, and provides support
Sort of VASCULAR SYSTEM |
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Aglaophyton is an extinct plant, what adaptations does it show?
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Thought to be a plant showing how it colonised verticle dry land,
has horizontal and upright stems, no leaves
sporangia at the top
central strand of water-conducting tisse (Xylem)
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