Unveiling the nature of a miniature world: a horizon scan of fundamental questions in bryology

Introduction. Half a century since the creation of the International Association of Bryologists, we carried out a review to identify outstanding challenges and future perspectives in bryology. Specifically, we have identified 50 fundamental questions that are critical in advancing the discipline. Methods. We have adapted a deep-rooted methodology of horizon scanning to identify key research foci. An initial pool of 258 questions was prepared by a multidisciplinary and international working group of 32 bryologists. A series of online surveys completed by a broader community of researchers in bryology, followed by quality-control steps implemented by the working group, were used to create a list of top-priority questions. This final list was restricted to 50 questions with a broad conceptual scope and answerable through realistic research approaches. Key results. The top list of 50 fundamental questions was organised into four general topics: Bryophyte Biodiversity and Biogeography; Bryophyte Ecology, Physiology and Reproductive Biology; Bryophyte Conservation and Management; and Bryophyte Evolution and Systematics. These topics included 9, 19, 14 and 8 questions, respectively. Conclusions. Although many of the research challenges identified are not newly conceived, our horizon-scanning exercise has established a significant foundation for future bryological research. We suggest analytical and conceptual strategies and novel developments for potential use in advancing the research agenda for bryology.

J. Patiño was funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN) through the Ramón y Cajal Program (RYC-2016-20506) and supported by the Fundación BBVA project (PR19_ECO_0046) and the MICINN project (PID2019-110538GA-I00). S. McDaniel was supported by grants from the NSF (DEB 1542609, 1541005, 1541506). J. Martínez-Abaigar was supported by the grant PGC2018-093824-B-C42, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Regional Development Fund. B. Goffinet was supported by NSF grant DEB-1753811.

Peer reviewed