| Project summary
We address crucial aspects of infraspecific diversity and hitherto rarely studied reproductive characters of the western Eurasiatic endemic moss Drepanocladus lycopodioides (Brid.) Warnst. This species has decreased in many regions with intensive agricultural management in both Sweden and central Europe. We focus the project on extensively farmed or earlier farmed areas in the southern Swedish Baltic region, the core of the species' total extant distribution. We use molecular methods to quantify genetic (haplotype) variation and to determine gender frequencies at different geographic scales. Such information is presently scarce for mosses, the second-largest lineage of green land plants, and will be critical to assess how future changes in, e.g., succession, management, and climate may affect the species. We expect that our results will be relevant in the conservation context also for other unique habitat specialists that co-occur with D. lycopodioides.
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