Mosses of the Gottlob, Springenkopf und Ruppelstein nature reserves in the Hunsrück-Hochwald National Park.
Abstract
In 2015, three decades after the end of management, a bryophyte inventory was conducted in the natural forest reserves (NWR) Gottlob, Ruppelstein, and Springenkopf within the Hunsruck-Hochwald national park. For future comparative surveys, permanent observation quadrats on the stems and trunk bases of trees, on rocks, deadwood and ground were established and analyzed. A total of 89 bryophyte species were detected, 21 liverworts and 68 mosses, most in NWR Gottlob (69), followed by Ruppelstein (60) and Springenkopf (49). The number of species therefore is not correlated with the floor space, which in the case of Ruppelstein amounts only to one third of any of the other two NWRs. Most of the bryophyte species are characteristic for sites with a moderate degree of human influence (hemeroby). Ruppelstein < Gottlob < Springenkopf is the rank order in the sense of increasing hemeroby. NWR Ruppelstein also houses most of the indicator species for historical woodland continuity as well as most of the bryophytes particularly susceptible for air-pollution induced damage. Therefore, NWR Ruppelstein occupies an outstanding position among the three NWRs. On the stems of the trees which are up to 260 years old, several bryophyte communities were recorded, among them the rare Antitrichietum curtipendulae.