Bryophyte biodiversity for monitoring chestnut ecosystems on Mount Etna (Eastern Sicily)

The bryophyte epiphytic biodiversity in some chestnut stands on Mount Etna were investigated. This is a numerically poor xerophytic flora, with a clearly dominant moss component and a rather high acrocarpous/pleurocarpous ratio. Based on the biodiversity index, incidence of the degree of resistance of the various taxa to pollutants, and degree of reproductivity of the species, some considerations on the environmental state of health are expressed. Some different moss species were evaluated for the bioaccumulation: Scleropodium touretii and Hypnum resupinatum at Piano del Vescovo, Bryum capillare and Brachythecium velutinum at Fossa La Nave, and Hypnum cupressiforme and Homalothecium sericeum at Ballila.