Bryology in Serbia: from floristics to chemosystematics

Bryological research in Serbia can be divided into several periods and research fields, the first of which being floristic research. An important exploration of bryophytes in Serbia started at the end of the 19th century, and with a few discontinuances it continued up today. During the last decade of the 20th century couple of researchers started their work on the exploration of bryophytes. They focused on bryologically important habitats like sources, riverbanks, peat bogs and mountains. A significant number of new species was reported for the country, but the revision of the old records has been done as well, hence today flora of Serbia numbers 831 bryophyte taxa in total. Progress of the botanical research has brought interdisciplinarity into bryology. As a result, bryology in Serbia nowadays spread in different types of bryophyte research. For example, bryophytes are studied to investigate the biological, antimicrobial, antifungal and cytotoxic activity, biotransformation of molecules, phytochemical composition and as model organisms in stress physiology. Special emphasis is also given on active conservation of the species. This represents only some directions of what is currently studying on bryophytes in Serbia