Hidden diversity of non-charistmatic groups of land plants

Bryophytes, comprise mosses, liverworts, and hornworts, and differ from vascular plants by not having a differentiated vascular system, stomata, roots, and significant degree of foliage cuticularization. Lichens are hardy symbiotic organisms consisting of a fungus and one or more photosynthetic organisms, an alga or cyanobacterium, that can survive in various climates. In different portions of the world, particularly the North, bryophytes and lichens are commonly used as a general indicator of ecosystem health and serve as a monitoring tool. Despite being globally diverse and ecologically important, they are a woefully understudied groups of organisms. Compared to other taxonomic groups, bryophytes and lichens have historically been understudied, mostly associated with the difficult to identify them, they are often not taken into account during biological inventories and different types of field research.

Africa and Madagascar are well known for its very charismatic plant and animal groups (baobabs, orchids, big five mammals, lemurs, etc). However, non-charismatic groups, which include bryophytes and lichens are often neglected by biologists and are largely unknown to the general public. They represent one of the great reservoirs of undescribed diversity and hold numerous insights into understanding different biodiversity aspects, windows into ameliorating different problems, including those that impact humans.

Crucial information is lacking regarding bryophytes and lichens diversity in the tropics; responses to climate changes, and that knowledge on ecosystem services they provid is particularly limited in the tropics.

 

Climate change

According to the last report on climate change, The global temperature rise is already at + 1.1°C (IPCC 2023). This global temperature raise will affect unique and threatened systems. There is new and stronger evidence of the observed impacts of climate change on unique and vulnerable systems (such as polar and high mountain communities and ecosystems), but there is much uncertainty (few studies) of the effect of global warming on tropical biotas.

Tropical forests are among the biologically richest ecosystems on Earth, but are being threatened by habitat degradation and conversion. These forests may also be vulnerable to climate change but much uncertainty exists as to the magnitude and nature of this anthropogenic impact on tropical organisms (Laurance et al. 2011). Besides the striking diversity, they host a particular and restricted endemic fauna and flora, thermally specialized to these humid conditions. They serve as watershed protection and biodiversity reservoirs. Furthermore they are of socio economic importance, being recreation areas for the population and as a cultural heritage.

Despite the importance of tropical biota to global biodiversity, there is a huge knowledge gap on their vulnerability to climate change and the impact of climate change on their mountains’ ecosystems, especially in the global South (Palomo 2017).

 

Air pollution

Air pollution is amongst the biggest threats to human health and the environment, forming a major concern for life as we know it today.

Air pollution contributes to climate change via increasing warming by trapping heat in the atmosphere. Not only does air pollution affect human health, but it is also a serious threat to biodiversity, as it a major driving force changing the natural environment, including the basic structure and function of ecosystems. Lower life forms, including lichens and bryophytes are usually more affected than higher life forms. Whereas the effects on larger organisms may be more noticeable, those that can be seen on lower forms of life are far more extensive.

Tropical Afro-Malagasy countries, particularly the larger cites, have  little in the way air quality data and with little to no monitoring. Very little is known about the impacts of air pollution on biodiversity in the tropical Afro-Malagasy Region. This in part arises from little baseline data and suitable model systems, and a lack of research designed and led by scholars focused and based in the global South.

 

Objectives

Relative to other ecosystems and relative to habitats in the global North, very little is known about the impacts of air pollution and climate change on biodiversity in the Afro-Malagasy Region. The objectives of this project can be summarized by three aspects:

• Describe bryophyte and lichen diversity: the aim is to contribute to the knowledge of these “hidden” but ecologically important groups.

• Predicting and mitigating the effects of air pollutants and climate change on biodiversity: to fully understand the impact of air pollution and climate change on biodiversity, it is necessary to make field measurements, particularly of indicator species, and obtain a better understanding of how biological community are structured.

• Setting up a long-term air quality monitoring: we aim to use low-cost sensors and organism bioindicators to map patterns of health-impairing fine particulate and metal-containing air pollutants and to develop and design new protocols to analyse bioaccumulation of heavy metals and other air pollutants over a period of time in urban and rural areas.

 

The end goal is to leverage the result of this research project to provide new and sustainable recommendations to policy makers: (i) to set up conservation priorities for sites or vegetation systems so that this exceptional diversity can be conserved and restored (ii) to implement measure to control air pollution and to improve access to healthy air quality.

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Funding: Jennifer Ward Oppenheimer Research Grant