NEET BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -By releasing different acids, mosses and lichens can dissolve the rock they grow on. This process of disintegration and chemical alteration of rocks is known as chemical weathering. Non-vascular plants and lichens can greatly accelerate the weathering of the rock they grow on.

Detailed explanation-2: -Bryophytes provide homes for tiny woodland creatures. Together, they also act as a giant sponge, slowing the flow of rain into burns and rivers, and helping to protect against flash floods.

Detailed explanation-3: -Mosses play an important role in preventing and controlling soil erosion on rock surfaces [19]. The H2CO3 formed by moss respiration and secretions can dissolve rocks and form primitive soil [20–22].

Detailed explanation-4: -Globally there are around 11, 000 moss species, 7, 000 liverworts and 220 hornworts. As they are not flowering plants, bryophytes reproduce by spores instead of seeds. “They can produce thousands or millions of spores, and they disperse them using the wind as their vector, ” Villarreal says.