A CYTOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE NOSTOC‐BRYOPHYTE RELATIONSHIP

Abstract

SUMMARYA comparative light and electron microscope study has been made of the Nostoc colonies within the thalli of Blasia pusilla and the three British species of Anthoceros, and also of the Nostoc isolated from each bryophyte. From their morphology in culture two taxa of Nostoc have been identified; N. sphaericum from Anthoceros punctatus, A. husnotii and A. laevis, and N. calcicola from other gatherings of Anthoceros laevis and Blasia. These findings support the notion that the algal‐bryophyte associations are none specific.Within bryophyte thalli, the Nostoc trichomes are closely packed and specific features cannot be recognized. Mucilaginous sheaths are much less extensive and there is no evidence that the alga thrive in mucilage produced by the adjacent bryophyte cells. Heterocyst frequencies as high as 50% in the bryophytic Nostoc spp. strikingly recall the Azolla, Gunnera and cycad‐blue‐green algal symbioses. Akinetes, readily produced in culture were only seen in the Nostoc from dormant Anthoceros. The absence of phycobilisomes and high heterocyst frequencies in the bryophytic Nostoc spp. corroborates physiological data that the algae receive organic carbon from their hosts which enable them to fix nitrogen heterotrophically.The Nostoc colonies in both Blasia and Anthoceros are extensively penetrated by multi‐cellular bryophytic filaments. Whereas in Anthoceros these comprise highly vacuolate, thin‐walled cells, which sometimes contain intracellular Nostoc trichomes, in Blasia the filaments are thick‐walled and often develop labyrinthine wall ingrowths. This transfer cell morphology may be interpreted as an adaptation facilitating interchange of metabolites between Blasia and Nostoc. Its absence in Anthoceros perhaps indicates a far less harmonious relationship or may be related to the higher nutrient status of the habitats where the Anthoceros spp. were collected.