ELEMENTAL ANALYSES OF POHLIA NUTANS GROWING ON COAL SEEPS IN PENNSYLVANIA

Abstract

  A distinctive, luxuriant development of Pohlia nutans, a moss widespread in both northern and southern hemispheres where it is associated with peaty soils, rocky ledges, and tree stumps, was studied where it grew on exposed bituminous coal seeps in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. Elemental analyses of the Pohlia plants were compared with the mineral content of Polytrichum juniperinum and Brachythecium oxycladon, collected from an adjacent roadside habitat. The percent dry weights of N, P, Mg, K, and S were higher in Pohlia compared to those of the two reference species. The concentrations of Fe, Al, Mn and Zn were particularly high in the Pohlia plants. The high mineral content of the Pohlia plants was correlated with the mineral content of the seepage water which had a pH of 2.65- 2.75. The extensive Pohlia turfs on the coal seeps are apparently related to the tolerance, and perhaps preference, of Pohlia nutans for the low pH and mineral-rich conditions provided by the seepage sites.