Search

Introduction: Bryophytes constitute an important part of the unmanaged plant diversity of urban areas. They represent, directly and indirectly, an important food, shelter and microhabitat-engineering resource allowing the establishment of other organisms, thereby increasing the biodiversity of urban areas. However, their contribution to urban biodiversity is generally overlooked and poorly understood. Methods: In this study, we compared pre-existing data from 23 Spanish urban bryophyte floras and used taxon accumulation curves and ordination analyses to reveal emergent patterns related to urban biodiversity in Spain. Key results: The compilation of these 23 floras revealed 286 bryophytes represented in urban areas in peninsular Spain and the Balearic Islands, including 2.80% and 3.50% of taxa considered under some threat category at the European and Iberian scales, respectively. Taxon richness and diversity varied greatly across cities and were strongly affected by climatic characteristics and extension of the studied cities. Ordination analyses showed an alignment of the different floras with the geographical location of the cities. Eurosiberian (Atlantic) and eastern and southern cities showed a higher taxon richness compared with cities from central Spain, which showed taxon assemblies comprising the commonest and widespread taxa. We also found that taxon richness was influenced by methodological factors (i.e. sampling intensity and the time the study was done). Conclusions: Our study results suggest a need for adequate sampling of habitat heterogeneity within the urban landscape and point to the contribution of bryological knowledge to our understanding of the biodiversity of urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anomobryum apiculatum (Schwägr.) D.Bell & Holyoak is a widespread moss from tropical and subtropical areas of the world. It has been also reported from Europe. However, the recent re-evaluation of those records indicate they have been mistaken with unrelated Bryum Hedw. species and thus, its actual presence in Europe is doubtful. During independent bryological surveys, samples from two distant Mediterranean localities in Spain and Israel were collected. These samples differed from any other Bryaceae Rchb. species reported to date but matched the morphological traits described for A. apiculatum, which is here newly reported for Spain and Israel. A detailed morphological study of specimens from the two localities revealed conspicuous variation at vegetative traits related to leaf arrangement and shape. This variation in vegetative traits contrasted with the similarity of tubers. Plants from both populations showed rhizoidal and axillary tubers of the distinctive features described for A. apiculatum s.l., including their large size (166-359 µm), brown to dark-brown colour and strongly protuberant cells. Tuber traits make A. apiculatum readily distinguishable from all other tuberous species of Bryum s.l. in the Mediterranean, including Ptychostomum rubens (Mitt.) Holyoak & N.Pedersen. This latter species also occurs on disturbed soil, and has axillary and rhizoidal tubers with protuberant cells, but with distinctive red colouration. Its leaves have a conspicuous limbidium, and are dentate in the upper part, contrasting with the entire margin and absence of limbidium in those of A. apiculatum. These traits allow a clear differentiation between both species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calluna vulgaris (Ericaceae) is the most widespread and prevalent woody species of the European dry heathland, from the African side of the Strait of Gibraltar to northern Europe. However, previous biogeographic analyses of this species have ignored the western Mediterranean region, despite its preponderant role as a major glacial refugium for European biota. Here, we explore the existence of further Pleistocene glacial refugia for C. vulgaris in the Iberian Peninsula and the Strait of Gibraltar area and provide new insights into the post-glacial colonization of Europe by this emblematic heathland species. We carried out phylogeographical analyses of C. vulgaris samples from 44 locations using four plastid markers (matK , trnH - psbA , trnL-F and rpl16). We built palaeodistribution models using MAXENT to identify possible refugia for C. vulgaris during the mid-Pliocene, Last Interglacial (LIG), Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and mid-Holocene. Our results identified a genetic lineage exclusive to the Strait of Gibraltar area s.l. (south-western Iberian Peninsula and north-western tip of Africa) as the most probable close to the clade of origin of the species. This lineage also had more private haplotypes than more recent, Eurosiberian clades. The obtained data highlighted two main refugia for C. vulgaris during the LGM, one around the Strait of Gibraltar and another in the north-western Iberian Peninsula. The Strait of Gibraltar area is a major centre of origin or glacial refugium for the heather C. vulgaris. However, the north-western Iberian Peninsula seems to have acted as a secondary glacial refugium for the more recent, Eurosiberian lineage of this species. This study stresses the importance of the Strait of Gibraltar area in the biogeographic history and conservation of the heather and, by extension, the European heathland habitat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new population of the Argentinian endemic Riella choconensis Hässel (Riellaceae, Marchantiophyta) was discovered from a culture of sediments from the Laguna de los Juncos (Río Negro province, Argentina). This species was known previously from two nearby collections, made in 1984, in the type locality at the Ramos Mexía reservoir (Neuquén province) and was not recorded since. Fresh material from the new population enabled detailed morphological analyses, which are extensively described here, illustrated and compared to type material of the species. Based on the smooth female involucre, the species belongs to subgenus Riella Mont. However, cross-sections of this structure showed that R. choconensis has bistratose involucre walls, contrasting with the unistratose female involucres of all other species in the genus. The updated morphological data are integrated into a new key to the identification of the American species of Riella. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]