Pasiche-Lisboa, Carlos J.

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    Protonematal dispersal by water, wind, and animal
    (2013) Pasiche-Lisboa, Carlos J.; Sastre-De Jesús, Inés; College of Arts and Sciences - Sciences; Cafaro, Matías; Thaxton, Jarrod; Department of Biology; Torres-López, Ramón I.
    Bryophyte dispersal allows population establishment, recruitment, and survival. This dispersal can be carried out in many ways, such as: water, wind, animal, and even gravity. The dispersal mechanisms have enabled the short and long distance scattering of spores from a few meters and as far to another continent. However, bryophyte dispersals studies have focused on the spore, thus creating a gap of information for the asexual structures dispersed. There are a few studies that have shown that these modules can disperse centimeters and up to 10 meters from the asexual structure source. Still, there are no studies that detail the dispersal mechanism for the protonemata; although, the protonemata has the potential for dispersal due to its similar size and form to soredia, which have been observed to disperse. Hydrochory (water), anemochory (wind), and endozoochory (animal) experiments were carried out to test the protonematal dispersal capabilities of Calicostella belangeriana and Taxiphyllum taxirameum. The protonemata did disperse under these modes of dispersal. The protonemata dispersal formed a leptokurtic pattern for hydrochory and anemochory, which showed that a high proportion of the protonemata fall near the experimental source. In addition, the wind velocity or height of dispersed drop can affect the average protonematal dispersal distance regardless of the species used for the experiments. The higher the wind velocity or height of dispersed drop, the longer average distance that the protonemata is dispersed. Also, there was no or a slight correlation or relationship between protonematal size and dispersal distance for hydrochory and anemochory, respectively. Meanwhile, viability was not affected by hydrochory or endozoochory but was diminished with anemochory. This research suggests that protonematal dispersal could be a major driver of short distance dispersal that would allow the maintenance, establishment, and survival of bryophyte populations. Further research on the protonemata dispersal will elucidate other processes governing its paradigm.