THE MYSTERY OF MOSSES

Professor Terry A.J. Hedderson, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Tow

Thursday 23 January  3.00 pm COURSE FEES R110; Staff and students R55

Mosses, along with their close relatives the liverworts and hornworts, are the closest living relatives of the earliest land plants that emerged nearly 500 million years ago. Their origin profoundly changed the planet and paved the way for life on land as we know it. Although small and largely under-appreciated, mosses play significant roles in most ecosystems.

This lecture will introduce mosses and will outline their evolutionary origins, functional roles in terrestrial ecosystems in general and in the Cape in particular, diversity within South Africa particularly in relation to the main vegetation types, and unique adaptations to the strongly seasonal rainfall of the Cape region.

This lecture is related to the excursion on page 130.

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