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Gravitropism in Fungi, Mosses and Ferns

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Book cover Gravitational Biology I

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Space Life Sciences ((BRIEFSSLS))

Abstract

Motile pseudoplasmodia of cellular and acellular slime molds show gravitaxis while unicellular Dictyostelium amoebae do not. Fungi display gravitropism of their fruiting bodies which is thought to facilitate spore dispersal. Caulonemata and sporophytes of liverworts and mosses show negative gravitropism which is a also observed in sporophytes of ferns. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the mechanism for graviperception but none has been proven yet.

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  1. Department of Biology, Friedrich-Alexander Universität, Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany

    Donat-Peter Häder

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Häder, DP. (2018). Gravitropism in Fungi, Mosses and Ferns. In: Gravitational Biology I. SpringerBriefs in Space Life Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93894-3_5

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