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Invertebrates act as unwitting couriers of moss sperm beyond water's reach

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tagsja-picks, xref, addendum, causal_relationships, trade, singleton, category/causal-relationships
aliases@kimmerer_gathering_2003, loc. 265

2 min read

Invertebrates act as unwitting couriers of moss sperm beyond water’s reach

Evidence

Mosses experience the same pressure for cross-fertilization, but lack flowers or any kind of showy display to attract insects as co-conspirators in fertilization. Mosses rely on the movement of water to carry sperm, and it is an inefficient process since the sperm can rarely travel more than a few centimeters. It appears, however, that the invertebrate community that inhabits mosses has the potential to carry sperm a bit farther afield. As they crawl through the moss, mites, springtails, and other arthropods passing by a male can become smeared with mucilage containing moss sperm. The sperm may then be carried on the bodies of the invertebrates and rinsed off into water droplets elsewhere in the moss, where they can swim to the waiting females. Invertebrates are unwitting but vital partners in the continuity of the moss forest, like the hummingbird with pollen accidentally brushed on its forehead. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 265

Categorization

  • XREF: Vertical thread across chapters: moss reproduction solved by partnerships rather than display — echoes the earlier playfully social frame and Darwin’s tangled bank theme. — connects to: Mosses must return to water to breed like the tree frogs do — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural…, 109; Dicranum’s dwarf males are an evolutionarily efficient fertilization solution — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural…, 165; Mosses evolved two reproductive strategies trading dispersal distance against genetic novelty — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural…, 323 (+2 more)
  • ADDENDUM: Connects to the trees-as-infrastructure article: here the whole moss mat functions as infrastructure for an invertebrate community, a miniature living-root-bridge system.

Broader Connections

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