Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-jbqgn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-20T00:54:14.075Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Preface

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2010

Get access

Summary

This book is about bryophytes and lichens in the Arctic and Antarctic. It considers the evolution and adaptations of the polar floras, and the role of these plants in the vegetation and in the functioning of tundra ecosystems. The study of plant ecology in the polar regions has advanced dramatically in recent years as a result of work initiated in the Antarctic during the International Geophysical Year (1957–58), and in both Arctic and Antarctic as part of the International Biological Programme Tundra Biome investigations. Much attention has been focused on bryophytes and lichens because of their obvious abundance in local communities. The work has been broad in scope, ranging from phytogeography to physiological ecology, and from vegetation ecology to reproductive biology. The results, as synthesised here, are of relevance far beyond the polar regions, because they make a substantial contribution towards a general understanding of the environmental relationships of bryophytes and lichens. It should be noted, however, that mosses are of considerably greater ecological significance in the tundra than liverworts; they have consequently received more emphasis in research and therefore in the present text.

Authorities for most of the plant names cited in the text can be found in the following: mosses – D. M. Greene (1986), Steere (1978a); hepatics – Schuster (1966–80), Grolle (1972); lichens – Thomson (1984), Lindsay (1974); vascular plants – Greene & Walton (1975), Scoggan (1978–79). Where differences occur, the nomenclature used by the first-mentioned authority for each group has been followed.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Preface
  • R. E. Longton
  • Book: Biology of Polar Bryophytes and Lichens
  • Online publication: 24 April 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511565212.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Preface
  • R. E. Longton
  • Book: Biology of Polar Bryophytes and Lichens
  • Online publication: 24 April 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511565212.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Preface
  • R. E. Longton
  • Book: Biology of Polar Bryophytes and Lichens
  • Online publication: 24 April 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511565212.001
Available formats
×