Expansion of the liverwort Tetralophozia setiformis in the Polish Tatra Mts (Western Carpathians)

Piotr Górski

doi:10.5586/asbp.2007.010

Abstract

The article presents the spread of the liverwort Tetralophozia setiformis in the Polish Tatra Mts (Western Carpathians). In the years 1814-1957 only four localities of this plant have been found in High Tatra Mts. Since the 90-ties, an increase in recording of T. setiformis has been noticed, including the first locality in Western Tatra Mts. Currently, there are 17 localities of T. setiformis in the Polish Tatra Mts. In many of them, the plant occurs abundantly; it also remains in the places of its first records. The species has a narrow ecological scale. It is attached to rock blocks, mostly of north exposition. It creates small, single-species turfs plaited in mossy pillows of alpine grasslands of Oreochloo distichae-Juncetum trifidi racomitrietosum lanuginosi hung among rocks.

Highlights

Tetralophozia setiformis (Ehrh.) Schljakov [=Chandonanthus setiformis (Ehrh.) Lindb.] is a subarctic-alpine species (Duell 1983)
The aim of this paper is to present the current distribution of Tetralophozia setiformis in Polish Tatra Mts and the characteristics of its localities in habitat-phytocoenosis context
I confirmed that T. setiformis has stayed in some localities and found new localities near the older ones, especially in sub-peak part ofó3ta Turnia, where previously the plant has been recorded on rock shelves at 1660 m a.s.l., and it is common in the sub-peak localizations from 1970 m a.s.l. to the peak (2087 m a.s.l.)

Summary

Introduction

Tetralophozia setiformis (Ehrh.) Schljakov [=Chandonanthus setiformis (Ehrh.) Lindb.] is a subarctic-alpine species (Duell 1983) It has been recorded in Svalbard, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Britain, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land, North, Northwest and East Russia, Siberia, Russian Far East, Mongolia, Subarctic America, Western and Eastern Canada, North-Central and North-Eastern USA (Söderström et al 2002). In Europe, T. setiformis is common in Nordic countries; in the remaining area it occurs in relict localities in higher mountain places (Damsholt 2002). It is considered a highly endangered species in Belgium, Germany and Czech Republic (De Zuttere and Schumacker 1984; Ludwig et al 1996; Kuèera and Váòa 2003), and a rare species in Slovakia (Kubinska et al 1996). In Polish Carpathians, this liverwort is limited to the Tatra Mountains

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