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Inspire Session

Hybrid Session

Session: : Impact of Changing Climate on Bryophyte Contributions to Terrestrial Water, Carbon, and Nitrogen Cycles

INS 18-1 - How bryophytes impact terrestrial water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles

Thursday, August 10, 2023
8:00 AM – 9:30 AM PDT
Location: 251

    Presenting Author(s)

  • KC

    Kirsten K. Coe, Ph.D.

    Professor
    Middlebury College
    Middlebury, VT, United States

    • Co-author(s)

  • DS

    Daniel E. Stanton

    Assistant Professor
    University of Minnesota
    Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States

  • MS

    Mandy L. Slate

    University of Colorado, Boulder
    Boulder, CO, United States

Bryophytes are not just miniature tracheophytes. They are a group of plants possessing unique physiological adaptations to a broad suite of environmental conditions and functional traits that affect biogeochemical cycling across terrestrial biomes. Bryophytes impact water cycling through their dynamic responsiveness to moisture and through modification of soil-atmosphere processes such as evaporation and infiltration. As the dominant groundcover in peatlands and boreal forests, bryophytes affect carbon cycling through CO2 uptake and belowground storage. Bryophytes regulate nitrogen availability through symbioses with nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria across systems, and as keystone species affecting structure and function of biocrusts, the fertility powerhouses of drylands.