Mosses of Cockburn Island plateau, Antarctica

AGUSTINA CELESTE COTTET; MARÍA INÉS MESSUTI; MARTIN ANSALDO; LAURA PATRICIA DOPCHIZ

ANTARCTIC SCIENCE

CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS

Lugar: Cambridge; Año: 2024

0954-1020

Located east of the Antarctic Peninsula, Cockburn Island is a small island in the James RossArchipelago. Studies of mosses on the island are scarce. The oldest studies date from the first half of thenineteenth century to the most recent in 1993. The number of records of mosses is very small due to thedifficulty of accessing the area. Here, we report an updated composition of the moss flora of the plateau,in which four new records have been found: Bryoerythrophyllum antarcticum, Ceratodon purpureus,Pohlia wilsonii and Schistidium lewis-smithii. The occurrence of these species on the plateau shows thatthe ranges of these species have expanded from the Antarctic Peninsula to the east. This collectionhighlights the need for further research into the dynamics of moss flora in the context of climate change.