How lichens and mosses shape and respond to environments, from microclimates to ecosystems (2020-10-23)

Abstract

While trees and grasses get the most attention, they aren’t the only primary producers in most terrestrial environments, even here in Minnesota. Non-vascular plants and plant-like organisms such as lichens and mosses present a set of convergent approaches to the challenge of being a terrestrial photosynthetic organism that make for interesting comparisons with vascular and plants. Their small size and reliance on atmospheric sources of water and nutrients leads to sometimes quite different yet sizeable impacts on ecosystems that have been historically overlooked. My work seeks to understand both the functional ecology and the ecosystem consequences of lichens, bryophytes and similar terrestrial autotrophs.