Simon Cole
Member
These liverworts were found at a depth of 4" in fast flowing water. I believe that they grow permanently submerged because water levels are well-regulated by an adjoining lake.
All specimens were returned exactly as found. It would seem that damage to these liverworts is confined predominantly to the scraping of otters, whose spraints and tar marks were everywhere along the embankment.
There was also inter-spaced colonisation of liverworts along the mud embankment, bounded 40cm above the water line, within a more intermixed <riparian> plant community. The photograph on the right, below is a liverwort:
What struck me most was the size of these liverworts compared to the surrounding flora, and the atrociously poor light conditions that they seemed to enjoy. I am wondering whether there is a certain degree of heterotrophic metabolism going on, or perhaps they are at an advantage if they have thinner leaf tissue... Is it right to say this is only one cell thick?
Ferns and mosses cope well with raised water levels and seem to flourish on the bridge abutments. Willow moss Fontinalis antipyretica carpets much of the river bed, so I might take a look later in the season.
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