Trampling Effects on Bryophytes: Trail Surveys and Experiments

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Abstract
A survey was made of bryophytes associated with trails near Mountain Lake, Virginia, [USA] totaling 35 spp., all common in the adjacent forest. The species having highest importance values on the trails were, in order of decreasing importance values: Hypnum imponens, Dicranella heteromalla, Thuidium delicatulum, Atrichum angustatum Polytrichum ohioense, Leucobryum glaucum and Callicladium haldanianum. To assess trampling resistance in bryophytes, experimental plots of Polytrichum commune, Ditrichum pallidum and Sphagnum recurvum were subjected to known levels of trampling by humans. S. recurvum was the most vulnerable species, fragmenting after 130 passages. After 4200 passages P. commune showed internal damage to portions of the stem and fragmentation of its leaves while D. pallidum showed little damage.sbd.the small shoots cushioned by each other and by burial in the soil. After 19 days, regeneration of new shoots from the rhizome-like stems of P. commune was apparent in the field, and microscopic examination showed the production of secondary protonemata and shootbuds from leaf fragments in the muck. Secondary protonemata and shootbuds were produced from stems and leaves of intact plants and of shoot fragments of D. pallidum. Trample-resistant structural features and high regenerative abilities apparently contribute to the importance of bryophytes on trails as potential inhibitors of soil erosion.