Contribution to the Moss Flora of Kizildağ (Isparta) National Park in Turkey

The Kızıl Mountain National Park chosen as the study area is in Dedegül Mountain range which is in the 122 important plant areas in Turkey [59]. As a reliable indication of its highly diversed flora. Although the National Park of Kızıl Mountain range was important plant area, was not studied for moss flora, up to now. So, we believed the necessity of studying the mosses of the Kızıl Mountain National Park in Turkey. It is located in a transitional zone of Mediterranean and continental climate. In accordance with its transitional location, IranoTuranian and Mediterranean flora elements are dominant in the area (Figure 1).


Introduction
The Kızıl Mountain National Park chosen as the study area is in Dedegül Mountain range which is in the 122 important plant areas in Turkey [59]. As a reliable indication of its highly diversed flora. Although the National Park of Kızıl Mountain range was important plant area, was not studied for moss flora, up to now. So, we believed the necessity of studying the mosses of the Kızıl Mountain National Park in Turkey. It is located in a transitional zone of Mediterranean and continental climate. In accordance with its transitional location, Irano-Turanian and Mediterranean flora elements are dominant in the area (Figure 1).
Studies on the bryophyte flora of Turkey were carried out firstly in the 18 th  and Schiffner [1896,1897]. The available bryofloristic studies covering a number of localities in Turkey carried out by local and foreing botanists focus only on a small localized area. Especially from late 20 th century up to date, many studies were published.
Mosses are important components of forest ecosystems. They have important contributions on biological diversity providing wet habitats for much type living organisms. The study on mosses in Turkey are not extensive as in many other contries, thus the moss flora of Turkey is still largely unknown.
According to the grid system adopted by Henderson [30], the reserch area is between B7 and C12 squares. While the total number of new records for these square grids is 63, new taxa records for B7 is 7, for C12 is 47, as well as both grid squares are 9, respectively.
To date, nearly studies have been deal with the bryophyte flora of southwest of Turkey. The new records belonging to the B7 mosses taxa were found out from the following literatures: Henderson and Muirhead [28], Henderson [27], Robinson and Godfrey [63], Walther [75],  [5].
The chosen study area, Kızıldağ National Park, encloses very important plant areas (Endemic and Endangered) including the Dedegül Mountain (2996 m) range that is also among the 122 important plant areas in Turkey [59]. The study area is located in the Kızıldağ National Park that is in Isparta province. Its lies in the Beyşehir Lake range, which is running from north to south in the southern part of Turkey. The localities belong to B7 and C12 gridsquare according to Henderson's [30] system ( Figure 3).
The geological structure of the field is composed of formations consisting of limestone rocks. Vegetation from the National Park, tree species are: Cedrus libani A. Rich, Pinus nigra Arnold. subsp. pallasiana (Lamb.) Holmboe, Abies cilicica Car., and Juniperus species comprising the forest makes up. C. libani A. Rich, Şarkikaraağaç within the boundaries of the Kızıldağ National Park to the south of the town is 5 km north-facing slopes of the rising Kızıldağ shows the natural distributions of 1200-1700 meters. Shrub layer of the Cedrus libani A. Rich is Quercus coccifera L. [5].

Materials and methods
The moss samples were collected from the study area during different vegetation periods between 2009 and 2011. The stations were selected according to different plant communities, and the geographical condition ( Table 1).
The moss sample samples were incised by spatula from their habitats. After the samples were cleaned, they were preserved in plastic bags. Each plastic bag has a label providing the information about the habitat of the area. For example: Samples collecting number, moisture, exposure, substratum, the date of collecting, geographic coordinate, etc.
Plants in the division Bryophyta have features that are considered to be rather primitive. These are plants with little specialization of tissue, which are not well-adapted to life in a relatively dry land environment. They also have comparatively simple reproductive processes, and are the only plants which have a dominant gametophyte generation. A study of the features of mosses will illustrate the major characteristics of this plant division [81].
In mosses, the gametophyte is small and at least partially erect, with very little specialization of cells and tissues, specifically, no true leaves, stems, or roots. The moss gametophyte has a shoot portion that appears leafy, and has rhizoids which emerge from its base to attach it to the substratum upon which it grows. The gametophyte is generally green and photosynthetic, and obtains water and other nutrients from the soil by direct absorption into its cells. It contains no cells specializing in the transport of water and/or nutrients (vascular tissue) and therefore cannot grow so large as to prevent contact between the soil and the majority of its cells [81].
At maturity, the moss gametophyte is capable of developing gametangia on its surface. Sperm-producing antheridia can arise amongst the leaf-like structures along the length of the thallus; egg-producing archegonia most often develop at the tip of the erect gametophyte. When fully developed, flagellated sperm are released from an antheridium and swim through a film of water to reach an egg-containing archegonium ( Figure 4) [81].
Syngamy of the egg and sperm produce a zygote within the archegonium. This zygote undergoes mitosis to produce an embryo, again retained within the archegonium. Finally, the embryo matures into a sporophyte, consisting of a sporangium (capsule), a seta (stalk), and a foot which remains embedded in the gametophyte tissue. The continued attachment of the sporophyte to the gametophyte allows the sporophyte to absorb most of its needed nutrients from the gametophyte [81].
Meiosis occurring within the sporangium produces spores. Following spore production, the capsule opens up to release the spores, which germinate to produce new moss gametophytes [81].
The firstly recorded taxa from B7 were indicated by asteriks (*), from C12 by two asterisks (**) and from both of them (B7 and C12) by three asterisks (***). The status of the taxa for Turkey was determined by reviewing the related literature [36,70]. The first record for the Turkish bryophyte flora was indicated by diamond (♦).
In the statements of specimens: The first number shows the Site no., the bold abbreviation shows the habitat, U abbreviations shows collector and identified (Serhat Ursavaş), and the last number shows the collection no.
Habitats in the study area: s: on soil, r: on rock: src: on soil in rock crevices, rc: rock crevices, t: on bark of tree trunk and branch, dt: on dead trunk, ws: wet soil, wr: wet rock.

Synonyms
Subspecies and varieties are included; hybrids are omitted. The taxonomic hierarchy is based on one published by Goffinet & Buck in [24]. While it has been strongly influenced by results of modern molecular methods, there are still many remaining uncertainties, even at family level. Because of these uncertainties, taxonomic innovation has generally been avoided which was also interiorized in the Bryological Monograph related with the Mosses of Europe and Macaronesia prepared by Hill at al. in [32].
In this list, prepared according to the most recent nomenclatural changes in the mentioned monograph above, some species have been mentioned in different genus and some of them have been referred in different families. In accordance with that, taxonomic synonyms are given below.

Conclusions
A total number of 156 taxa belonging to 66 genera and 29 families were determined by evaluating 1.148 bryophytes collected from Kızıldağ National Park between 2009-2011 at different seasons and habitats. The number of taxa recorded from Pınargözü cave location was the highest (58 taxa) within all study area ( Figure 5). The cracks on the rock which placed at the entrance and the surrounding area of a cave are suitable environments for the development of the mosses. In additional, Pınargözü cave streams and more rainfall has increased moss species diversity of this area. Among the 156 species determined in the research area, identified 63 species are new to the area for the mentioned grid squares. This means that approximately 40% of the records were determined as new records for the grid squares.
Seligeria donniana was recorded for the first time for Turkish bryophyte flora ( Figure 6). This genus contains nineteen species in the European countries [32]  In this study, an endemic taxon Cinclidorus vardaranus Erdağ and Kürschner was recorded for the second time for Turkish moss flora (Figure 7). This species was identified and reported by Adnan Erdağ and Harald Kürschner in [22] from B9 grid square (Kemaliye, Erzincan) for the first time. In addition, Crossidium crassinerve (De Not.) Jur. is an orther species reported for the second time from Turkey in this study ( Figure 8). The first report of this species from Turkey was from Denizli Babadağ by Kırmacı et al. in [34].
New moss record for B7 square is Schistidium atrofuscum (Schimp.) Limpr., Distichium capillaceum (Hedw.) Bruch&Schimp., Tortella nitida (Lindb.) Broth., Syntrichia norvegica F.Weber, Orthotrichum anomalum Hedw., Orthotrichum striatum Hedw., Homalia trichomanoides (Hedw.) Brid.   The revelation of the importance of Pınargözü Cave for the biodiversity of mosses comes out as another important finding of the study. Namely, the taxa detected from this locality constitutes alone approximately the one third (37%) of the overall taxa determined from the whole research area. This result indicates the value of the Pınargözü Cave in terms of its contribution to the bryophyte diversity. Unfortunately, human activities in and around the Pınargözü Cave either by using the site as a picnic area or as a hiking site on the Mount Dedegöl are certainly putting an enormous pressure on the local flora, which in turn, conceive a negative effect on the rich biodiversity of Pınargözü Cave.
According to the our findings, 4 families out of 29 in the study area detected from the research area constitute 55 % of the total taxa. These families are: Pottiaceae, Grimmiaceae, Brachytheciaceae and Bryaceae, which are also known to be the families containing the highest number of taxon of the Turkish Bryophyte Flora (Table 2).
While evaluating the table 2, the total number of taxon of each family was handled. According to this, it was inferred that the family containing the utmost number of taxa within the study area was Pottiaceae family with 43 taxa, constituting the 28 % of the total taxa.
This situation can be explained by the summer droughts (25.4 ºC and 8.2 mm) within the study area which takes place in the C12 square grid. Because, species showes acrocarp growth as the ones within the Pottiaceae family are relatively more resistant to the long term high temperatures and drought since they usually have hair like appendages that are called "hair-point" on the tip of their leaves and show a dense, cushion like growth. Also, the existence of a great number of taxa belonging to the drought resistant families such as Grimmiaceae, Brachytheciaceae and Bryaceae in the study area can be seen as a result arising from the long lasting drought period at C12 square.