Moss Harvest Research

Ecosystem Functions

Large moss mats occur all the way from canopy limbs down to the lowest shrub stems, inhabiting extremely variable forest strata.

Some of the ecosystem functions of moss happen up in the canopy on the upper limbs of large conifers.  These mats contribute to nutrient and hydrologic cycling, as do those in the understory, and provide nesting habitat for the threatened seabird the marbled murrelet.

Moss mats do not grow in a vacuum.  We know that mats gain biomass when they catch bits of moss falling from the canopy, and lose it when it falls from themselves.  They grow, respire, and die.  They absorb nutrients and water and release them back into the ecosystem at different times.  And they provide habitat for other organisms.

The nutrient cycling and hydrologic functions of moss have been studied in rainforest canopies, but never in the understory of temperate forests like these, although it is hard to imagine they do not have an impact.

It's also easy to see the role mosses play when you come across those living moss-houses constructed by a variety of forest birds.

The provision of habitat and food for invertebrates is a most intriguing area.  Some taxa, such as the threatened log affiliated keeled-slug, are known to prefer mossy sites.

Moss mats gradually accumulate decomposing leaves and dust and eventually develop a layer of duff and sometimes even soil underneath the moss mat on the host stem, which can provide habitat for hundreds of invertebrate taxa (Peck & Moldenke 1999).  A recent pilot study showed that some of these taxa are quite capable of hanging out in a cryptobiotic state throughout harvest, packaging, and shipping and can reawaken in their new home--hundreds or thousands of miles away!