Life Strategies of Mosses in Mt. Pulag, Benguet Province, Philippines
Mt. Pulag, the highest peak in Benguet Province, Luzon Island, Philippines at 2,924 m (Buot and Okitsu 1998) was investigated for its moss flora focusing on life strategies. Moss collections totaled 58 species that belong to 28 families. These are distributed among 3 vegetation zones; the pine forest, mossy forest, and the mountain top grassland. Five out of the 6 main life strategies of During (1979 and 1992) were observed to occur; namely colonists, fugitives, annual shuttle species, long lived shuttle species, and perennials. The frequency of colonists, many of them belonging to the genus Campylopus, was moderately high ranging between 40% and 50% at the grassland and at the pine forest while it was lower in the mossy forest at 29%. Fugitives and annual shuttle species were observed to occur only in the pine forest. Perennials were highest in the mossy forest (45%), most of them belong to the family Hypnaceae. The long lived shuttle and colonist strategies dominated the grassland. This survey on life strategies resulted in the establishment of a moss based zonation pattern in Mt. Pulag as follows: colonist-annual shuttle strategies at ~2,850 m (grassland), perennials at ~2,725 m (upper boundary of the mossy forest), mixed perennials and colonists at 2,590 m (lower boundary of the mossy forest) and mixed life strategy zone with the more desiccation tolerant strategies with the highest frequencies at ~2,440 m (pine forest). This zonation pattern coincides with the vegetation pattern suggested by Merill and Meritt (1910).
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