Old or dying leaves move nutrients to living tissues (i.e. resorption) but some nutrients remain in the dying tissues and are recycled in the environment via decomposition. One of the nutrients involved in resorption...
Hybridization between species has not been considered an important factor in the evolution of mosses. The moss life cycle has led many researchers to believe that the plants have very limited evolutionary potential and...
Light is indispensable for photosynthetic organisms, but excess light energy causes damage in photosystems and readily leads to cell death in severe environments such as Antarctica. Kosugi et al. determine reaction...
Sexual reproduction requires close proximity of mates, but ensures genetic variation in the local population. Although independent of cross-pollination, asexual reproduction can however, reduce genetic variation in the...
The waxy cuticles that coat plant surfaces have been relatively well studied in vascular plant taxa, but it is unclear how similar they may be across distant lineages. Busta et al. present comprehensive analyses of the...
Embryos of the moss Aloina ambigua are inducibly desiccation tolerant (DT), requiring a slow-dry period to confer tolerance to air-dryness. Hardening to DT describes a condition of temporary tolerance to a rapid-dry...
Roughly half of the species of bryophytes have separate sexes (dioecious) and half are hermaphroditic (monoecious). This variation has major consequences for the ecology and evolution of the different species. In some...
Over a century ago, the gametophytic calyptra was predicted to be covered by a cuticle that protects the sporophyte apex from desiccation. Budke et al. examine the moss Funaria hygrometrica using electron microscopy...