Responses of Terrestrial Mosses to Simulated Climate Change in a Secondary Evergreen Broad-leaved Forest in Southern China

Abstract Tropical regions are biodiversity hotspots and are well suited to explore the potential influence of global climate change on forest ecosystems. Bryophytes have essential ecological functions in tropical forest ecosystems. Knowledge of the potential impact of global warming and possible changes in water availability patterns on terrestrial bryophytes is limited. We transplanted eight moss species from two elevations (900 and 500 m) to warmer and drier elevations (500 and 100 m) during a half-year observation period on Tai Mo Shan, southern China. The simulated climate change resulted in a marked decrease in growth and a negative effect on the health of the transplanted species. Few moss species survived six months after transplanting to the warmer and drier lowlands, and their health status deteriorated severely. Three moss species, Sematophyllum subhumile, Pseudotaxiphyllum pohliaecarpum, and Brachythecium buchananii, were highly susceptible to changes in temperature and moisture and might be used as suitable bioindicators. As the tropics are expected to become hotter and drier, terrestrial mosses might be negatively affected or even be at risk of extinction. The cascading negative effects on the forest ecosystem might be induced by the dying back or even disappearance of terrestrial moss species. Thus, conservation of bryophyte communities is important to sustain and improve the stability and resilience of tropical forest ecosystems to climate change.