.
. . . Bryophyte and
invertebrate interactions abound, but they are poorly studied. My students
and I are investigating the interaction between a leafy liverwort
(in the genus Frullania) and the rotifers
that live within the lobular leaves of the liverwort. The upper picture
on the right shows a rotifer, extended out of the lobular leaf of Frullania.
This image that was taken from a microscope shows the flat leaves of
the liverwort in the background and the lobular leaves in the foreground.
The liverwort in this picture has been soaked in water, and the rotifer
that is extended out of the lobule is feeding. The coronal aparatus
of the rotifer is visible, and when seen with the cilia moving, the
corona looks like two wheels spinning (hence the origin of name "rotifer").
The liverworts we study grow epiphytically on the bark of forest trees.
The plants are quite small. The lower picture shows what a plant looks
like macroscopically (without a microscope) in the field. The plant
in the lower picture is growing on the trunk of a tree. The rulers are
approximately 25 cm long.
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