Bryophyte Ecology and Climate Change

Bryophytes especially mosses represent a largely untapped resource for monitoring and indicating effects of climate change on the living environment. They are tied very closely to the external environment and have been likened to canaries in the coal mine''. Bryophyte Ecology and Climate Change is the first book to bring together a diverse array of research in bryophyte ecology including physiology desiccation tolerance photosynthesis temperature and UV responses under the umbrella of climate change. It covers a great variety of ecosystems in which bryophytes are important including aquatic desert tropical boreal alpine Antarctic and Sphagnum-dominated wetlands and considers the effects of climate change on the distribution of common and rare species as well as the computer modeling of future changes. This book should be of particular value to individuals libraries and research institutions interested in global climate change.