TY  - JOUR
A1  - Lösch, Rainer
A1  - Mülders, P.
A1  - Fischer, Eberhard
A1  - Frahm, Jan-Peter
T1  - Scientific results of the Bryotrop expedition to Zaire and Rwanda : 3., photosynthetic gas exchange of bryophytes from different forest types in eastern Central Africa.
T2  - Tropical bryology
N2  - During the BRYOTROP-Expedition to Zaire and Rwanda bryophytes were collected from a rainforest habitat at 800 m a.s.l. and from bamboo forest and tree-heath environments between 2200 and 3200 m. The microclimates influencing the mosses are different at the altitudinally separated locations. Conditions are rather constant with 24 °C, 100 % rel. hum. and PAR below 100 μmol photons m-2 sec-1 at the lowland station, rather versatile in the mountains with six times higher daily sums of PAR, temperatures between 10 and 25 °C and relative humidities between 60 and 1oo %. In the bamboo forest epiphytic mosses dry out during the day to less than 70 % of their water content, but regain saturation from the vapor-saturated air during night. Bryophyte photosynthesis and respiration were studied by Warburg manometry with moisture saturated samples. Temperature curves of gas exchange peaked between 22 and 30 °C. Optima of the lowland species were somewhat higher than those from samples collected at the mountain sites. Habitat separation of characteristics of photosynthesis was more pronounced with respect to light responses. Saturation gas exchange rates were reached by all species still below 400 μmol photons m-2 sec-1. But the slopes of the curves in the low-light range were distinctly steeper, and the light compensation points smaller in the lowland than in the highland species (compensation points of the former: 3 - 12 μmol photons m-2 sec-1, of the latter: 8 - 20 μmol photons m-2 sec-1). It is emphasized that bryophytes in the rainforest understory experience extremely high ambient C02 concentrations near the floor. This, their low light requirements for photosynthesis, and the permanently optimal temperature and humidity conditions for maximal carbon gain enable them to live successfully, but with less biomass development in this dark and damp environment. By contrast, bryophytes from the bamboo forest and tree-heath environments can utilize light conditions combined with variable temperatures and humidities similarly as species from extratropical vegetation types.
Y1  - 1994
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/30281
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-302814
SN  - 0935-5626
N1  - The layout of the electronic version of this contribution differs from the layout of the original version published in the printed volume.
IS  - 9
SP  - 169
EP  - 185
PB  - D. Quandt, Univ. Bonn, Nees Inst. für Biodiversität d. Pflanzen
CY  - Bonn
ER  -