NEETBotanyPlant Kingdom
How do mosses contribute to soil formation?
Options
- ABy preventing soil erosion
- BBy decomposing rocks
- CBy providing nutrients
- DBy fixing atmospheric nitrogen
Correct answer
B. By decomposing rocks
Step-by-step solution
Bryophytes in general are of little economic importance but some mosses provide food for herbaceous mammals, birds and other animals. Species of Sphagnum, a moss, provide peat that have long been used as fuel, and as packing material for trans-shipment of living material because of their capacity to hold water. Mosses along with lichens are the first organisms to colonize rocks and hence, are of great ecological importance. They decompose rocks making the substrate suitable for the growth of higher plants. Since mo