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Type: Article
Published: 2000-12-31
Page range: 49–53
Abstract views: 128
PDF downloaded: 0

Adaptations of lowland jungle mosses to anthropogenic environments in Guyana

6 Lewer St., Gloucester (Ottawa), Ontario KIV IG9, Canada
Bryophyta jungle mosses Guyana

Abstract

Sixteen lowland jungle mosses growing in anthropogenic habitats at Santa and The Bell - Ituni localities on the Demerara River in Guyana were examined in detail with the aim of detecting any features which would indicate their adaptations to new habitats. Amounts of chlorophyll in leaf cells, protective coloration, alterations in leaf morphology, characteristics of old stems, rhizoid tomentum and fertility are considered as the most pronounced adaptive features of these species to new localities. The ecology, general appearance and morpho-anatomical changes of specimens from anthropogenic habitats were observed and compared with their equivalents from habitats occurring in the closest natural environments. No one species grows or has local centers of occurrence only in anthropogenic habitats. Generally, invasion of lowland jungle mosses into anthropogenic environments is considered as difficult, slow and limited.

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