Eco-physiology of bryophytes in heavy-metal loaded environments
Austrian Academy of Science (ÖAW) _ JESH (Joint Excellent in Science and Humanities); Marko Sabovljevic, collaboration Partner Ingeborg Lang (2017-2019)

In general, bryophytes are widely used to determine air or soil conditions. However, many different species are applied which renders the results difficult to compare. Furthermore, diverse bryophyte species react very differently to e.g. metal stress. Within this cooperation, we therefore aim to analyse representatives of the acrocarp and pleurocarp mosses, hornworts and liverworts for their metal tolerance. The metals (zinc and copper) will be applied as simulated rain and as addition to solid growth medium. Physiological data like growth analyses, cell size, photosynthetic pigments or antioxidant status will be confirmed by scientific documentation at the light microscope level. Cell or tissue specific localisation will be performed by application of metal sensitive marker dyes. Subcellular allocation of metals will be done in the scanning and transmission electron microscopes, combined with elemental analyses (EDX and EELS, respectively).