Plantae- Mosses
Mosses are part of the kingdom Plantae, and the phylum Bryophyta, also known as bryophytes. Three phyla are in the plantae kingdom, including Phylum Hepatophyta, Phylum Anthocerophyta and Phylum Byophyta. Broyophytes are thought to have evolved from algae, and were on of the first plants to live in water. Moss is a type of bryophyte, the most common type, actually. There are thousands of types of mosses, calculated to be about 12,000. Plants, including moss are multicellular, eukaryotic and uses photosynthesis to recieve the energy they needs.
As stated before, moss live in terrestrial habitats, and are commonly found in areas of moist environments. Moss is a very special type of plant because it does not allow the water it soaks in too "distribute" among the organism. Moss can be found in a variety of environments, however they thrive in "moist alpine, boreal, temperate, tropical forests and wetlands" (shsapbiop2). Even though mosses can thrive in these environments, they can survive in many extremes because of their sophisticated structure. For example, moss can be found occasionally in deserts and in antarctic areas.
The most common types of moss are Polytrichum and Sphagnum. Polytrichum are also called "hairy cap"becauase of the mosses ridges lining the moss. With these ridges, the moss is able to absorb more sunlight, an thus grow taller than other types of mosses. Sphagnum is more commonly found in extremly moist areas, containing a lot of water. This type of moss is able to absorb -"20 times its weight in water when it is dry-" (shsapbioP2).
Moss is extremly complex, and anatomy can change quite dramatically, depending on where the moss is inhabited. Moss usually grows very close to the ground, because of rhizoids, or the mosses roots of sorts. Except these "roots" are not like other plants roots because they do not help with water absorption or any other transport of organic materials. Mosses have both gametophytes and sporophytes, with gametophytes being the dominant phase of the mosses life. Gametophytes produce sperm and egg and are larger than sporophytes. Sporophytes go through meiosis, and as the name suggest produces spores. The moss does go through sporophytes, however what we imagine as moss, such as the pictures show above, is the moss in the Gametophytes stage of its life.
Moss does not contain vascular tissue, so moss has to exchange materials directly with the environment. They have extremly thin "leaves" only one-few cells thick.
Moss can be either female or male, with the eggs produced in the female organ called archegonia and the sperm produced in the antheridia. The sperm has to travel to the egg, and once the sperm is released into the water, they make their way to the archegonia. After, a zygote is created and stays with the female gametes. They "baby moss" remains with the female plant and is protected by embryos. The spores are released slowly, and are completly controled by the wind. Upon landing, the moss seperates by mitosis, and produce buds. With time, the moss matures itself, and is then capable of producing offspring.
Like most things, life is not straight forward; and moss can produce asexually as well.
It is believed that moss was the earth's one and only terrestrial plant for million of years, and thus have developed many mechanisms to help them survivie for so long. Moss can loss the majority of thier water in thier body without dying (this is why some mosses can live in the desert). Moss also has taken advantage of the wind, allowing air currents to help in thier widespread population and diversity.
Works Cited: http://shsapbiop2-taxa.wikispaces.com/Plantae-mosses
