Studies of the Vegetation of the English Chalk: VII. Bryophytes and Lichens in Chalk Grassland, with a Comparison of Their Occurrence in Other Calcareous Grasslands

Abstract

Notes are given on the ecological roles of the principal bryophytes and lichens of English chalk grassland. A list is given of 59 bryophytes and 7 lichens, recorded largely on the South Downs. This flora is compared with the records of Watson (Jour. Ecol., 1918) for carboniferous limestone grassland, and of Watt (Jour. Ecol., 1940) for calcareous grassland in the Breckland of E. Anglia. The 2 latter floras contain respectively 17 and 18 spp. peculiar to themselves; the chalk grassland list, though longer, contains only 2 spp. not found on one or both of the other 2 grassland types. The intermediate position of chalk grassland in regard to climatic, and to some extent grazing, conditions is in fact reflected in the intermediate character of its bryophyte and lichen vegetation.