Project / Initiative
National projects
- Active

BRYOELEM

Elemental composition of bryophytes to investigate competition and land plant colonisation

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Creaf leader

Roger Grau-Andrés

Participant

Eladio Rodríguez Penedo

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Participant

Estela Romero

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Participant

Xin Song

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Participant

Alba Anadon Rosell

Marcos Fernandez
Participant

Marcos Fernández

Institutions
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Financing entities
Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
Funding
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The elementome of organisms, or their elemental composition, is key to understanding their functional traits and interactions with the environment. The BRYOELEM project explores how bryophyte (mosses and liverworts) elementomes are influenced by coexistence, environmental context, and evolutionary history. This will enhance our understanding of the biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationship.

 

The elemental composition of organisms (elementome) has great potential to enhance our understanding of how communities are structured, ecosystem functioning, and responses to environmental changes. This is because the elementome determines functional traits, and hence, interactions with the environment. Differences in elementomes among organisms explain variations in their ecological niches.

Recent studies suggest that differences in elementomes across species are linked to biogeochemical niches. Diverse communities would optimize resource use through niche partitioning. However, empirical evidence for this hypothesis, especially based on whole-organism elementomes, is scarce. Bryophytes, due to their simplicity, allow complete elementome analysis, unlike vascular plants. Furthermore, studying the evolutionary history of their biogeochemical niches can shed light on the terrestrial colonization of plants.

BRYOELEM will evaluate this hypothesis through a study of bryophyte elementomes. The objectives include:

  • Assessing changes in elementomes due to coexistence and environmental context (e.g., eutrophication).
  • Determining biogeochemical niches based on habitat and functional traits.
  • Exploring their evolutionary history.

The results could improve understanding of the mechanisms behind biotic assemblages and the productivity-biodiversity relationship, with applications in the biodiversity-functioning field.


Proyecto PID2023- (PENDIENTE) financiado por MICIU/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 y por FEDER, UE.


Financiación

 

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