A guide to bryological hotspots in Europe : [Part 1: The Azores]

The Azores are of bryological interest in many respects: They are young volcanic islands with an age between 4 mio and 40.000 years, are situated in an hyperoceanic environment favouring bryophyte growth, the bryophyte flora is composed of European, Neotropical, African and subantarctic elements, there are about as many bryophyte species as flowering plants, the islands have a comparably high rate of endemic species (on single Azorean islands, all Azorean islands or the Macaronesian islands), and the bryophyte flora gives an impression of the bryophyte flora of continental Europe during Tertiary, since many species such as Echinodium spp. or Andoa berthelotiana, known as fossils from the Tertiary of continental Europe, survived here the glaciation periods and got extinct in Europe