Diversity of the aquatic bryophytes in a tropical high mountain river

Abstract

The mountain rivers contain a great diversity of habitats, which are characterized by temporary changes in environmental factors and by hosting different organisms. The bryophytes are an important compo-nent in the biota of these ecosystems, where they reach large coverage and contribute significantly to primary production, stabilization of the margins of watercourses and increasing the heterogeneity of habitats for other organisms. This work is carried out in the Teatinos River (Boyacá, Colombia), in an altitu-dinal gradient between 2100 and 3300 m, in which the diversity of aquatic bryophytes and its relationship with some environmental factors such as pH, conductivity, temperature, depth, slope and width of the channel, measured along the mentioned is evaluated. Twelve sampling sites were established, distributed every 100 m altitude, where 70 species were recorded, corresponding to 41 mosses, 27 liverworts and two hornworts. The greatest richness and diversity were reported at 3100 m. Dominance is higher at 2400 m. The composition of the communities indicated the distribution of the species into two groups one from 2100 to 2800 m and a second from 2900 to 3300 m. The temperature, conductivity and slope are nega-tively correlated with the richness.