Introduction

Attention to climate change has significantly increased in the past 20 years, both on global and on regional scales. A great deal of research has been carried out relative to global warming based on alteration of species distributions. Examples are a study supported by a large number of African vascular plant species (McClean et al. 2005), another using amphibian and reptile distribution (Araújo et al. 2006), and also, on a European scale, diadromous fish distribution (Lassalle et al. 2008). In a more narrow range, we can cite research using alpine plants in the Swiss Alps (Guisan & Theurillat 2000), on the effects on rare lichens in the UK (Binder & Ellis 2008), or identifying the dynamic in snowbed bryophytes related to the duration of snow-lie in Scotland (Woolgrove & Woodin 1994).

Bryophytes are important ecologically; they constitute an important component of biodiversity and are recognized as keystone species of ecosystem monitoring. Many bryophyte species have been adversely affected by human activities, principally because of deterioration in essential habitats (Bates & Farmer 1992) or water quality (Vanderpoorten & Klein 1999), as well as increased nitrate (Lee et al. 1998) and air pollution (Zechmeister et al. 2007). These adverse effects have been widely cited as to why some bryophytes are now considered endangered.

Bryophyte species have, in general, tolerance to wide ranges of temperature. This attribute is largely due to their water relations, since they can survive better at higher temperature extremes when dry than when wet.