Sex expression and reproduction of four bryophytes following timber harvesting

Many factors are reported to affect reproduction in bryophytes but studies on the response of sexual reproduction to logging are extremely rare and the authors know of none for Australia. This paper reports the seasonal changes in sex expression and phenological development across a post-logging chronosequence for four species. Three species, Rhaphidorrhynchium amoenum, Rhynchostegium tenuifolium and Wijkia extenuata, were pleurocarpous and one, Rosulabryum billarderii, was an acrocarpous species. Reproduction in pleurocarpous species is seldom investigated because of the difficulty of untangling individual stems. Sex expression in terms of the numbers of male and female stems, number of perichaetia and perigonia, number of archegonia, antheridia and sporophytes did not differ across the chronosequence, so it would appear that forest age did not affect reproductive phenology.