| Fontinalis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Fontinalis antipyretica | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Bryophyta |
| Class: | Bryopsida |
| Subclass: | Bryidae |
| Order: | Hypnales |
| Family: | Fontinalaceae |
| Genus: | Fontinalis |
Fontinalis is a genus of submerged aquatic mosses belonging to the subclass Bryidae. These mosses are also called willow moss, fountain moss, brook moss and water moss. The genus is widespread in the Northern Hemisphere and includes both species that occur in still water and in flowing water. [1]
Fontinalis is characterized by its dark green color, and irregularly branching stems covered with small to large glossy, sharply ridged leaves. [2] However, different species of it may be characterized by different traits— Fontinalis antipyretica has keeled leaves, while Fontinalis novae-angliae has small teeth towards the tip and rolled leaves. Other variations are seen in size and curvature of the branches. [1] [3]
Bruce Allen describes the genus's physical characteristics as such. "The axillary hairs are remarkably long, to over 900 µm. The leaves have a multistratose basal region that has been interpreted as a rudimentary costa. The perichaetial leaves are usually lacerated across their apices. There are sporophytic character-complexes within Fontinalis that show meaningful taxonomic patterns at the species level; however, since the genus is dioicous, sporophytes are rare. Aquatic adaptations of sporophyte-associated features in Fontinalis include: perigonia with few antheridia (1, 2, or 4–6); enlarged, well-developed vaginula; immersed or emergent, very thick-walled capsules; lack of stomata; and peristomes with endostomial trellises." [3]
The species Fontinalis antipyretica is the first aquatic gametophyte plant to have its genome documented, as well as the first of the Fontinalis genus to be documented. It has 16,538 total genes with a genome that's 385.2 Mbp in size. It is monophyletic. [4]
Fontinalis occurs primarily in clean, acidic freshwater across Afro-Eurasia, Iceland, and the Americas, attached to submerged rocks and logs. Some species of this genus can live in suboptimal conditions, like concrete ditches impacted by rocky substrata from run-offs. It generally prefers cool, darker environments - with temperature preferences varying between 10-15°C depending on the species. However, higher temperatures don't necessarily kill them, as it generally only causes a temporarily cessation to their growth. [1] [2] [5] [3]
This genus plays an important role in its ecosystem, often providing a habitat for stream invertebrates and even some fish eggs. The family of nematoceran flies, Chironomidae, is known to use these moss as a habitat, alongside other insects such as Pteronarcys, Hydropsychidae, Rhyacophila, Ephemerella, Leuctra, Nemouridae, and even Simulium in areas where the water is sufficiently fast. These moss also provide a home for algae and many microorganisms. [1] [2]
Fontinalis is also particularly sensitive to heavy metals, with water coming from copper pipes known to damage the genus over extended exposure. It is not known to be uniquely sensitive to cadmium, but it may be sensitive to other metals. However, this in turn can benefit the surrounding ecosystem, as these mosses are useful as heavy metal accumulators, making it useful in cleaning up surrounding ecosystems. Additionally, these plants do not release these metals when they die, adding to their usefulness. [1]
Fontinalis produces largely asexually, with new organisms coming from either old stems or rhizomes from the previous year. Young Fontinalis mosses emerge between late winter and early spring, going through intense growth spurts in the mid-summer. However, growth slows in late summer, and in autumn these mosses adopt an unhealthy appearance, turning olive green, then brown, then black during the winter. This is when new life begins to form, jumpstarting the lifecycle. They predominantly use stolons, plant fragments, and spores to reproduce [6] However, the species is capable of sexual reproduction, developing these organs in late summer and early autumn. [1] [2]
Janice M. Glime, a leading expert on the Fontinalis genus, speculates that "it is possible that these mosses, like many overwintering structures of higher plants, have experienced a required cold period (at 1°C) and are preparing for a burst of activity similar to that exhibited by higher plants each spring." [6]
Fontinalis is notable for its usage in freshwater aquariums and garden ponds as a low-maintenance means of water oxygenation. The moss also can serve as a spawn receiver, especially for fish that breed towards the bottom of a tank such as Characidium fasciatum . [7] Fontinalis antipyretica in particular is sought after for its willow-like appearance that can resemble Java moss. [8]
Alternation of generations is the predominant type of life cycle in plants and algae. In plants both phases are multicellular: the haploid sexual phase – the gametophyte – alternates with a diploid asexual phase – the sporophyte.
Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophytasensu stricto. Bryophyta may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hornworts. Mosses typically form dense green clumps or mats, often in damp or shady locations. The individual plants are usually composed of simple leaves that are generally only one cell thick, attached to a stem that may be branched or unbranched and has only a limited role in conducting water and nutrients. Although some species have conducting tissues, these are generally poorly developed and structurally different from similar tissue found in vascular plants. Mosses do not have seeds and after fertilisation develop sporophytes with unbranched stalks topped with single capsules containing spores. They are typically 0.2–10 cm (0.1–3.9 in) tall, though some species are much larger. Dawsonia, the tallest moss in the world, can grow to 50 cm (20 in) in height. There are approximately 12,000 species.
Bryophytes are a group of land plants, sometimes treated as a taxonomic division, that contains three groups of non-vascular land plants (embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts, and mosses. In the strict sense, the division Bryophyta consists of the mosses only. Bryophytes are characteristically limited in size and prefer moist habitats although some species can survive in drier environments. The bryophytes consist of about 20,000 plant species. Bryophytes produce enclosed reproductive structures, but they do not produce flowers or seeds. They reproduce sexually by spores and asexually by fragmentation or the production of gemmae. Though bryophytes were considered a paraphyletic group in recent years, almost all of the most recent phylogenetic evidence supports the monophyly of this group, as originally classified by Wilhelm Schimper in 1879. The term bryophyte comes from Ancient Greek βρύον (brúon) 'tree moss, liverwort', and φυτόν (phutón) 'plant'.
The Marchantiophyta are a division of non-vascular land plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of genetic information.
Non-vascular plants are plants without a vascular system consisting of xylem and phloem. Instead, they may possess simpler tissues that have specialized functions for the internal transport of water.
The brook trout is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus Salvelinus of the salmon family Salmonidae native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada. Two ecological forms of brook trout have been recognized by the US Forest Service. One ecological form is short-lived potamodromous populations in Lake Superior known as coaster trout or coasters. The second ecological form is the long-living predaceous anadromous populations which are found in northern lakes and coastal rivers from Long Island to Hudson Bay, which are referred to as salters. In parts of its range, it is also known as the eastern brook trout, speckled trout, brook char, squaretail, brookie, or mud trout, among others. Adult coaster brook trout are capable of reaching sizes over 2 feet in length and weigh up to 6.8 kg (15 lb), whereas adult salters average between 6 and 15 inches in length and weigh between 0.5 and 2.3 kg. The brook trout is characterized by its distinctive olive-green body with yellow and blue-rimmed red spots, white and black edged orange fins, and dorsal vermiculation. The diet of the brook trout is restrictive to the season and location of the fish, but will typically consist of terrestrial and aquatic insects, fry, crustaceans, zooplankton, and worms.
Cladophora is a genus of reticulated filamentous Ulvophyceae.
Anubias is a genus of aquatic and semi-aquatic flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to tropical central and western Africa. They primarily grow in rivers and streams, but can also be found in marshes. They are characterized by broad, thick, dark leaves that come in many different forms. The genus was revised in 1979 and since then its nomenclature has been stable. Species can be determined by using mostly characteristics of the inflorescence. Because of the often shady places where the plants grow, the genus was named after the Egyptian god Anubis, the god of the afterlife. The genus was first described in 1857 by Heinrich Wilhelm Schott, with A. afzelii as its type species.
In biology, detritus is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts communities of microorganisms that colonize and decompose it. In terrestrial ecosystems it is present as leaf litter and other organic matter that is intermixed with soil, which is denominated "soil organic matter". The detritus of aquatic ecosystems is organic substances that is suspended in the water and accumulates in depositions on the floor of the body of water; when this floor is a seabed, such a deposition is denominated "marine snow".
Monoicy is a sexual system in haploid plants where both sperm and eggs are produced on the same gametophyte, in contrast with dioicy, where each gametophyte produces only sperm or eggs but never both. Both monoicous and dioicous gametophytes produce gametes in gametangia by mitosis rather than meiosis, so that sperm and eggs are genetically identical with their parent gametophyte.
Hemigrammus erythrozonus, commonly known as the glowlight tetra, is a small tropical fish from the Essequibo River, Guyana, South America. It is silver in colour and a bright iridescent orange to red stripe extends from the snout to the base of its tail, the front of the dorsal fin being the same color as the stripe. Other fins are silver to transparent. The glowlight tetra is a peaceful, shoaling fish. It is larger than the neon tetra, and its peaceful disposition makes it an ideal, and popular, community tank fish. It should be kept with similar sized, non-aggressive species. Hemigrammus gracilis is a senior synonym. The red-line rasbora of Malaysia and Indonesia has markings and coloring very similar to H. erythrozonus, but is a member of family Cyprinidae, not a close relative.
An aquarium is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquatic reptiles, such as turtles, and aquatic plants. The term aquarium, coined by English naturalist Philip Henry Gosse, combines the Latin root aqua, meaning 'water', with the suffix -arium, meaning 'a place for relating to'.
Apistogramma agassizii, commonly known as Agassiz's dwarf cichlid, is a species of cichlid found in the Marañón and Ucayali River in Peru, some tributaries of the Amazon River, as well as downstream to the estuary in the Atlantic. It is named after the Swiss-American zoologist and geologist Louis Agassiz (1807–1873).
Lomariopsis lineata is a species of fern native to South East Asia. The prothallia of this species are commonly cultivated as an aquarium plant, where it is known to aquarists as süsswassertang. It is often incorrectly spelled "subwassertang" due to the German eszett's similarity to the Latin 'B'. It is also called Loma fern or round pellia. In the aquarium industry, it is commonly confused with similar-looking liverworts of the genus Pellia and Monosolenium.
Dawsonia is a genus of acrocarpous mosses. Dawsonia, along with other members of the order Polytrichales, are taller than most mosses and have thicker leaves. Their sporophytes have conducting systems analogous to those of vascular plants. Dawsonia superba is found in New Zealand, Australia and New Guinea. D. longifolia is found in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Australia. There is uncertainty as to whether D. superba and D. longifolia are actually distinct species.
Fontinalis antipyretica, greater water-moss, or common water moss, is a species of submerged aquatic moss belonging to the subclass Bryidae. It is found in both still and flowing freshwater in Europe, Asia, Greenland and Africa. In North America it is found in most Canadian provinces with a seaboard and most US states except the most southern.
Polytrichum strictum, commonly known as bog haircap moss or strict haircap, is an evergreen and perennial species of moss native to Sphagnum bogs and other moist habitats in temperate climates. It has a circumboreal distribution, and is also found in South America and Antarctica.
Polytrichastrum formosum, commonly known as the bank haircap moss, is a species of moss belonging to the family Polytrichaceae.
Andreaea blyttii, also commonly known as Blytt's rock moss, is a moss belonging to the family Andreaeaceae, commonly known as rock moss, granite moss, or lantern moss because of this family's unique sporangium. It is part of the genus Andreaea which is known for forming dark brownish or reddish-black carpets in high elevations. This species was first described by Schimper in 1855.
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