Editing Moss (section)

===Habitat===
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Mossopolis.jpg|Dense moss colonies in a cool coastal forest
File:MossForest.jpg|A cool high altitude/latitude moss forest; the forest floor is covered in moss, beneath conifers
File:Route 1 , Between Vik and Kirkjubæjarklaustur - panoramio (7).jpg|Moss colonizes a [[basalt]] flow, in [[Iceland]]
File:Moss (Iceland) 03.jpg|Moss growing along [[seep]]s and springs in newly deposited [[basaltic]] rock, Iceland.
File:Steinerne Rinne bei Obererasbach im Altmühltal.jpg|Moss growing along the stream from a [[karst spring]]; [[travertine]] deposits from the stream water and the moss overgrows it, forming this ridge, with the stream on top.
File:Winter moss.jpg|Moss with sporophytes on brick
File:Mech plonnik mlode sporofity.jpg|Young [[sporophyte]]s of the common moss ''Tortula muralis'' (wall screw-moss)
File:Taiwan 2009 JinGuaShi Historic Gold Mine Moss Covered Retaining Wall FRD 8940.jpg|[[Retaining wall]] covered in moss
File:Michiganmosspatch.jpg|A small clump of moss beneath a conifer (a shady, usually dry place)
File:MossOnConcreteWall.jpg|Moss on a concrete wall
File:Moss (Bryophyta) on the forest floor in Broken Bow, Oklahoma.jpg|Moss (Bryophyta) on the forest floor in Broken Bow, Oklahoma
</gallery>

Mosses live in almost every terrestrial habitat type on Earth.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Medina |first1=Nagore G. |last2=Draper |first2=Isabel |last3=Lara |first3=Francisco |title=Biogeography of mosses and allies: does size matter? |journal=Biogeography of Microscopic Organisms. Is Everything Small Everywhere |date=2011 |pages=209–233|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511974878.012 |isbn=978-0-521-76670-8 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Eldridge |first1=David J. |title=The global contribution of soil mosses to ecosystem services |journal=Nature Geoscience |date=2023 |volume=16 |issue=5 |pages=430–438|doi=10.1038/s41561-023-01170-x |bibcode=2023NatGe..16..430E |hdl=10261/308895 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Though mosses are particularly abundant in certain habitats such as peatlands, where Sphagnum mosses are the dominant organism, and in moist boreal, temperate, and montane tropical forests, mosses grow in many other habitats, including habitats with conditions too extreme for [[Tracheophyte|vascular plants]] to survive. Desiccation tolerant mosses are important in arid and semi-arid ecosystems,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Silva |first1=Anderson T. |title=To dry perchance to live: Insights from the genome of the desiccation-tolerant biocrust moss Syntrichia caninervis |journal=The Plant Journal |date=2020 |volume=105 |issue=5 |pages=1339–1356 |doi=10.1111/tpj.15116 |pmid=33277766 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Coe |first1=Kirsten K. |last2=Sparks |first2=Jed P. |last3=Belnap |first3=Jayne |title=Physiological Ecology of Dryland Biocrust Mosses |journal=Photosynthesis in Bryophytes and Early Land Plants |date=2013 |pages=291–308}}</ref> where they help form [[biocrust]]s that mediate extremes of soil temperature,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Xiao |first1=Bo |last2=Ma |first2=Shuang |last3=Hu |first3=Kelin |title=Moss biocrusts regulate surface soil thermal properties and generate buffering effects on soil temperature dynamics in dryland ecosystem |journal=Geoderma |date=2019 |volume=351 |pages=9–24|doi=10.1016/j.geoderma.2019.05.017 |bibcode=2019Geode.351....9X }}</ref> regulate soil moisture,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dollery |first1=Rebecca |last2=Bowie |first2=Mike H. |last3=Dickinson |first3=Nicholas M. |title=The ecological importance of moss ground cover in dry shrubland restoration within an irrigated agricultural landscape matrix |journal=Ecology and Evolution |date=2022 |volume=12 |issue=4|pages=e8843 |doi=10.1002/ece3.8843 |pmid=35475181 |pmc=9034467 |bibcode=2022EcoEv..12E8843D |hdl=10182/15051 }}</ref> and regulate the release and uptake of carbon.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wu |first1=Lin |last2=Zhang |first2=Yuanming |last3=Zhang |first3=Jing |last4=Downing |first4=Alison |title=Precipitation intensity is the primary driver of moss crust-derived CO2 exchange: Implications for soil C balance in a temperate desert of northwestern China |journal=European Journal of Soil Biology |date=2015 |volume=67 |pages=27–34|doi=10.1016/j.ejsobi.2015.01.003 }}</ref> Mosses can live on substrates heated by geothermal activity to temperatures exceeding 50 degrees Celsius,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Garcia |first1=Estefania Llaneza |last2=Rosenstiel |first2=Todd N. |last3=Graves |first3=Camille |last4=Shortlidge |first4=Erin E. |last5=Eppley |first5=Sarah M. |title=Distribution drivers and physiological responses in geothermal bryophyte communities |journal=American Journal of Botany |date=2016 |volume=103 |issue=4|pages=625–634 |doi=10.3732/ajb.1500422 |pmid=27022007 }}</ref> on walls and pavement in urban areas,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lundholm |first1=Jeremy |title=Vegetation of Urban Hard Surfaces |journal=Urban Ecology |date=2011 |pages=93–102 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199563562.003.0012|isbn=978-0-19-956356-2 }}</ref> and in Antarctica.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yin |first1=Hao |last2=Perera-Castro |first2=Alicia V. |last3=Randall |first3=Krystal L. |last4=Turnbull |first4=Johanna D. |last5=Waterman |first5=Melinda J. |last6=Dunn |first6=Jodie |last7=Robinson |first7=Sharon A. |title=Basking in the sun: how mosses photosynthesise and survive in Antarctica |journal=Photosynthesis Research |date=2023 |volume=158 |issue=2 |pages=151–169|doi=10.1007/s11120-023-01040-y |pmid=37515652 |pmc=10684656 |bibcode=2023PhoRe.158..151Y }}</ref> Moss diversity is generally not associated with latitude; boreal and temperate moss diversity is similar to tropical moss diversity. Moss diversity hotspots are found in the northern Andes mountains, Mexico, the Himalayan mountains, Madagascar, Japan, the highlands of eastern Africa, Southeast Asia, central Europe, Scandinavia, and British Columbia.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Geffert |first1=Jan Laurens |last2=Frahm |first2=Jan-Peter |last3=Barthlott |first3=Wilhelm |last4=Mutke |first4=Jens |title=Global moss diversity: spatial and taxonomic patterns of species richness |journal=Journal of Bryology |date=2013 |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=1–11|doi=10.1179/1743282012Y.0000000038 |bibcode=2013JBryo..35....1G }}</ref>

Moss [[gametophyte]]s are [[autotroph]]ic and require [[sunlight]] to perform [[photosynthesis]].<ref name=moss>{{cite book |last=Kimmerer |first=Robin Wall |title=Gathering Moss |year=2003 |publisher=Oregon State University Press |location=Corvallis, Oregon |isbn=978-0-87071-499-3}}</ref> In most areas, mosses grow chiefly in moist, shaded areas, such as wooded areas and at the edges of streams, but [[shade (shadow)|shade]] tolerance varies by species. 

Different moss species grow on different substrates as well. Moss species can be classed as growing on: rocks, exposed mineral soil, disturbed soils, acid soil, calcareous soil, cliff seeps and waterfall spray areas, streamsides, shaded [[humus]]y soil, downed logs, burnt stumps, tree trunk bases, upper tree trunks, and tree branches or in [[bog]]s. Moss species growing on or under trees are often specific about the species of trees they grow on, such as preferring [[Pinophyta|conifers]] over [[broad-leaved tree|broadleaf trees]], [[oak]]s over [[alder]]s, or vice versa.<ref name=pojar /> While mosses often grow on trees as [[epiphytes]], they are never parasitic on the tree.

Mosses are also found in cracks between paving stones in damp city streets, and on roofs. Some species adapted to disturbed, sunny areas are well adapted to urban conditions and are commonly found in cities. Examples would be ''[[Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus]]'', a garden weed in Vancouver and Seattle areas; ''Bryum argenteum'', the cosmopolitan sidewalk moss, and ''Ceratodon purpureus'', red roof moss, another cosmopolitan species. A few species are wholly aquatic, such as ''Fontinalis antipyretica'', common water moss; and others such as ''Sphagnum'' inhabit bogs, marshes and very slow-moving waterways.<ref name=pojar>{{cite book|last=Pojar and MacKinnon|title=Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast|year=1994|publisher=Lone Pine Publishing|location=Vancouver, British Columbia|isbn=978-1-55105-040-9}}</ref> Such aquatic or semi-aquatic mosses can greatly exceed the normal range of lengths seen in terrestrial mosses. Individual plants {{Convert|20-30|cm|4 = 0|abbr = on}} or more long are common in ''Sphagnum'' species for example. But even aquatic species of moss and other bryophytes needs their mature capsules to be exposed to air by seta elongation or seasonal lowering of water level to be able to reproduce.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.0028-646x.2001.00334.x|title=Selection pressures on stomatal evolution|first=John A.|last=Raven|date=19 December 2002|journal=New Phytologist|volume=153|issue=3|pages=371–386|via=Wiley Online Library|doi=10.1046/j.0028-646X.2001.00334.x|pmid=33863217 |bibcode=2002NewPh.153..371R }}</ref>

Wherever they occur, mosses require liquid water for at least part of the year to complete fertilisation. Many mosses can survive [[desiccation]], sometimes for months, returning to life within a few hours of rehydration.<ref name=moss /> Mosses in arid habitats, such as the moss ''[[Syntrichia caninervis]]'', have adaptations for collecting non-rainfall sources of moisture like [[dew]] and [[fog]], capturing condensation from the air.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=de Guevara |first1=Monica Ladrón |last2=Maestre |first2=Fernando T |title=Ecology and responses to climate change of biocrust-forming mosses in drylands |journal=Journal of Experimental Botany |date=2022 |volume=73 |issue=13 |pages=4380–4395|doi=10.1093/jxb/erac183 |pmid=35553672 |pmc=9291340 }}</ref>

It is generally believed that in the [[Northern Hemisphere]], the north side of trees and rocks will generally have more luxuriant moss growth on average than other sides.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Porley |first1=Ron |last2=Hodgetts |first2=Nick |year=2005 |title=Mosses & Liverworts |location=London |publisher=Collins  |isbn=978-0-00-220212-1 |pages=80–81}}</ref> The reason is assumed to be because [[sunlight|sunshine]] on the south side causes a dry environment. The reverse would be true in the [[Southern Hemisphere]]. Some naturalists feel that mosses grow on the damper side of trees and rocks.<ref name=mathews>{{cite book |last=Mathews |first=Daniel |title=Cascade-Olympic Natural History |year=1994 |publisher=[[Audubon Society]] of Portland/Raven Editions |location=Portland, Oregon |isbn=978-0-9620782-0-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/cascadeolympicna00math}}</ref> In some cases, such as sunny climates in [[temperate climate|temperate]] northern latitudes, this will be the shaded north side of the tree or rock. On steep slopes, it may be the uphill side. For mosses that grow on tree branches, this is generally the upper side of the branch on horizontally growing sections or near the crotch. In cool, humid, cloudy climates, all sides of tree trunks and rocks may be equally moist enough for moss growth. Each species of moss requires certain amounts of moisture and sunlight and thus will grow on certain sections of the same tree or rock.

Some mosses grow underwater, or completely waterlogged. Many prefer well-drained locations. There are mosses that preferentially grow on rocks and tree trunks of various chemistries.<ref name=handbook>{{cite book |last1=Fletcher |first1=Michael |title=Moss Growers Handbook |date=2006 |publisher=SevenTy Press |location=Reading Berkshire |isbn=0-9517176-0-X |edition=3rd |url=https://archive.org/details/MossGrowersHandbook/mode/2up}}</ref>