Bazzania konratiana sp. nov. is described from Mananara Nord Biosphere Reserve and National Park. The new species was collected from a wet lowland rainforest where annual rainfall reaches 3500 mm. It differs from the similar Bazzania approximata Onraedt, an endemic species from Seychelles, in its overall larger size, the thick-walled leaf cells with large bulging trigones and proportion of hyaline and chlorophyllose cells in the underleaves.

A chloroplast DNA phylogeny of Radula substantiates the presence of three Radula species in Austria, R. complanata, R. lindenbergiana and R. visianica, all members of subg. Radula. Radula visianica has been observed at a few localities in the Austrian Alps, and is resolved in a sister relationship with a clade comprising R. complanata, R. jonesii, R. lindenbergiana and R. quadrata. Radula visianica resembles tiny alpine forms of R. lindenbergiana but differs in its more narrowly ovate leaf lobes and slightly more elongate leaf lobules. Despite extensive morphological overlap, molecular evidence unambiguously supports separate species status.

Trait databases are invaluable sources of information in ecological studies exploring the links between species traits and their surrounding environment. While digital vascular plant trait databases are already numerous, sets of bryophyte trait data are not equally available online. To help fill in this gap, we present the BRYOTRAIT-AZO database, a trait dataset for the Azorean bryoflora which aims to gather and facilitate access to all the published morphological information for the archipelago's bryophytes. As an example of its applications we examined the variation of moss leaf size, orientation and nerve extension along Terceira Island's elevational gradient, testing hypothesis related with trait presence and function. We identified a shift from mosses with twisted and shorter but longly costate leaves at lower elevation to mosses with longer untwisted leaves, with short or absent nerves at higher ground. These changes reflect the transition from sunnier, warmer and drier conditions at low elevation to shadier, cooler and damper settings at the island summit, in accordance with the hypothesis that smaller, twisted and longly costate leaves are better adapted to more xeric environments. As exemplified, this database can be a valuable tool for future studies at a regional or even a global scale, coupling functional data with bryophyte distribution information to identify trait roles on ecosystem functioning, but also general diversity and species co-occurrence patterns and community assembly rules.

The objective of the present work was the evaluation of the bryophyte flora diversity of the Hungarian village Almásfüzitő and the adjacent industrial zone. The investigated area was divided into 6 sections depending on the human influence. Altogether 82 taxa (3 liverworts and 79 mosses) were recorded. The low proportion of liverwort species could be primarily explained by the moderately dry climate of the region, and by the fact that the village of Almásfüzitő does not have any historical districts, and old buildings, thus the proportion of new artificial surfaces is relatively high. The bryophyte flora of Almásfüzitő shows the greatest similarity with that of nearby Middle-European metropolises (Linz, Bratislava and Vienna), which was primarily explained by the presence of common and frequent species.

The Humid Mountain Forests of Mexico (HMFs) harbor high species diversity and are subject to continuous fragmentation and disturbance. We inventoried the epiphytic mosses in forest fragments and on isolated trees located in the Eastern Sierra Madre (Sierra Madre Oriental). We determined the size and canopy openness of 60 trees and recorded the occurrence of epiphytic mosses on trunks. Ninety-three species and five varieties of mosses were detected, distributed among 61 genera and 26 families. Thirty-two moss taxa were strictly epiphytic and 61 were facultative. Eighteen percent (17 species) of all recorded species were rare and only 3% (3 species) were common. Nineteen genera of phorophytes were sampled. Quercus had the highest epiphytic richness. Species richness and epiphytic mosses assemblages differ between forest fragments and isolated trees. Canopy openness and mean host tree height determine the epiphytic moss richness and species assemblages. Our study further underlines the importance of the Mexican HMFs as a reservoir of epiphytic mosses.

In order to better understand the influence of short elevational gradient on the attributes of bryophyte communities, we examined the bryophyte flora within six elevational belts (10, 50, 400, 800, 950, and 1170 m a.s.l.) on a mountain in the Atlantic Forest in southeastern Brazil. Ten subplots (10 × 10 m) distributed randomly in 1 ha forest plot of forest at each elevation were surveyed. A total of 253 species were encountered and the richness did not vary depending significantly on elevation. The floristic similarities of the elevational belts were high > 50%, with the exception of the Mountaintop forest (< 35%), and the classification analyses indicated groups defined by Atlantic Forest vegetation types. Endemism demonstrated a positive correlation with elevation, while the amplitudes of the phytogeographical patterns of the species diminished with increasing elevation. The dioicous condition predominated in all of the elevational belts, and the dioicous/monoicous ratio showed an inverted-parabolic pattern along the gradient. Data concerning bryophyte species richness and distributions will be useful in future projects monitoring the effects of climate change on tropical forests.

A list of eight species belonging to Marchantiophyta (Ricciaceae) and ten species to Anthocerotophyta (Anthocerotaceae, Dendrocerotaceae, Notothyladaceae and Phymatocerotaceae) collected in several provinces of Argentina is presented. Five species are new records for the Argentinian bryophyte flora: Riccia limicola, R. weinionis, Anthoceros macounii, A. venosus and Phaeoceros microsporous. Riccia paranaensis and Ricciocarpos natans, collected in Corrientes are new reports from this province; Riccia lamellosa and R. squamata are new records from La Pampa, R. lindmanii from Misiones and Nothoceros endiviifolius from Salta. Four species are second national and provincial records: Riccia australis from Misiones, Phymathoceros bulbiculosus from Corrientes, Phaeomegaceros squamuliger from Neuquén, and Anthoceros lamellatus in Tucumán. For each species, ecology and distribution data for Argentina and South America are given.

We provide observations confirming that viable fragments of bryophytes are dispersed by migratory birds after surviving transit through the alimentary canal. A specimen of Didymodon insulanus was cultured from a large fragment extracted from faeces of Mallard Anas platyrhynchos at Lake Windermere in Cumbria, England. Similar fragments were recorded elsewhere in England in faeces of Mallard and Lapwing Vanellus vanellus. Endozoochory is likely to be an important dispersal mechanism for bryophyte fragments as well as spores.