Bryophytes

In this article, we will discuss Bryophytes (Overview). So, let’s get started.

Bryophytes

Bryophytes include the various mosses and liverworts that are found commonly growing in moist shaded areas in the hills Bryophytes are also called amphibians of the plant kingdom because these plants can live In soll but are dependent on water for sexual reproduction. They usually occur In damp, humid and shaded locallties. They play an important role in plant successlon on bare rocks/soll. The plant body of bryophytes is more differentiated than that of algae. It is thallus-ike and prostrate or erect, and attached to the substratum by unicellular or multicellular rhizolds. They lack true roots, stem or leaves. They may possess root-1lke, leaf-1lke or stem-like structures. The main plant body of the bryophyte is haploid. It produces gametes, hence is called a gametophyte. The sex organs in bryophytes are multlellular. The male sex organ is called antheridium. They produce biflagellate antherozoids. The female sex organ called archegonium is flask-shaped and produces a single egg.The antherozoids are released into water where they come in contact with archegonium. An antherozold fuses with the egg to produce the zygote. Zygotes do not undergo reduction division immediately. They produce a multicellular body called a sporophyte. The sporophyte is not free-lving but attached to the photosynthetic gametophyte and derives nourishment from it. Some cells of the sporophyte undergo reduction division (meiosis) to produce haploid spores. These spores germinate to produce gametophyte. Bryophytes in general are of little economic importance but some mosses provide food for herbaceous mammals, birds and other animals. Species of Sphagnum, a moss, provide peat that have long been used as fuel and as packing material for trans-shipment of living material because
of their capacity to hold water. Mosses along with lichens are the first organisms to colonise rocks and hence, are of great ecological importance. They decompose rocks making the substrate suitable for the growth of higher plants. Since mosses form dense mats on the soil, they reduce the impact of falling rain and prevent soil eroslon. The bryophytes are dividedd into liverworts and mosses.