Adaptation to metal-contaminated soils in populations of the moss, Ceratodon purpureus: vegetative growth and reproductive expression

Many observations suggest that morphological evolution occurs slowly in bryophytes, and this has been suggested to reflect low genetic diversity within species. Isozyme studies, however, stand in apparent contrast and have shown that bryophytes can contain high levels of genetic variability within and among populations. In light of this conflict, we tested the potential of the moss, Ceratodon purpureus, to undergo adaptive change (i.e., ecotypic differentiation) in response to soils that have been contaminated with high levels of metals for 90 years by measuring gametophytic growth and reproductive expression under experimental conditions. Variation in protonemal growth in sterile culture indicates that plants from one population growing on contaminated soil near a smelter are significantly more tolerant of zinc, cadmium, and lead than plants from uncontaminated sites. Results from a common garden experiment, in which plants were grown on soil from the smelter site, indicate that plants from near the smelter are significantly more tolerant of contaminated soils than plants from uncontaminated sites for vegetative growth. The same experiment suggests that plants from the smelter site are also more tolerant in terms of gametangial production (although we could not test this statistically). Our results demonstrate that C. purpureus has been able to undergo relatively rapid evolution in response to strong selective pressures