Growth and Plant Nutrient Concentration in Hylocomium Proliferum (L.) Lindb. in Relation to Tree Canopy

Abstract

In a moss community composed mainly of H. proliferum the annual production of dry matter in the mosses and their concns. of N, K, and P were studied in relation both to light intensity and to distance of the mosses from the nearest tree crown. Light intensity appears to be a limiting factor for growth of Hylocomium only when it occurs beneath the crowns of spruce trees. When not growing under tree canopies growth of mosses was found to decrease as distance from the nearest tree crown increased. This may be due to decreasing amounts of plant nutrients reaching the ground in the form of litter and rain washings from the crowns of the trees.