Drepanocladus lycopodioides rediscovered in the Czech Republic: Abandoned quarries as refugia for endangered fen species

Abstract

The moss Drepanocladus lycopodioides, considered extinct in the Czech Republic, has been rediscovered. The population occurs in an abandoned sandstone quarry with a shallow water pool; the site known as Lom Rasová is located in the Bílé Karpaty Mts (the White Carpathians) in the south-eastern part of the Czech Republic. The species has not been recorded in the country since the first half of the 20th century. The plant community with D. lycopodioides recorded in the Lom Rasová quarry resembles alkaline fens transient to intermittently wet meadows, i.e. the natural habitat of the species. We conclude that abandoned waterlogged quarries mimic the key environmental conditions that determine the natural occurrence of D. lycopodioides, i.e. high calcium richness, water table fluctuations, low productivity and irregular disturbances that prevent the dominance of competitively superior species. Such conditions no longer occur in current central-European agricultural landscapes. We encourage bryologists and mire ecologists to explore abandoned quarries and other post-mining habitats with shallow water bodies, as they may represent potential refugia for endangered fen species.