**5. Bryophyte status**

Mosses and liverwort as aquatic macrophytes (primary producers) are important components of some lentic and lotic freshwater ecosystems. The effect on the biodiversity and water chemistry, through changing the environmental condition and the availability of resources [3], in fact sometimes they even modify the water flow direction [36]. A review of monitoring heavy metal concentration through liverworts and mosses has been well revised by [57, 58]. However, bryophytes species (mosses and liverwort) as a monitor of environmental contamination have been also reviewed by [59, 60].

Recently, scientific studies indicate that bryophytes are going to become the target of investigation in Global Change Studies, particularly with respect to Climate Worming, as well as their effect on biodiversity. Their presence, distribution, and population density, as well as, their fertility are common parameters that are related to and applied for monitoring different ecosystems [36, 38, 60].

The effect of climatic and non-climatic factors on any ecosystem has to be considered well before an event takes place [44]. Aquatic bryophytes are found to be a quite fit example for such expectation. Quite many species of mosses and liverwort had shown to have a high tolerance for various sorts of pollution and contamination; therefore, using such species as biomonitoring the indicators of any impacts and bioavailability of any parameter have been widely proposed recently [44]. However, Bryophytes species have been already used for the last 30–40 years for monitoring water quality [11, 61].

Such a process of biomonitoring an aquatic ecosystem has been already applied in Europe by using bryophytes in order to monitor tens of heavy metals. The process involves field observation and analysis of native species of mosses or active monitoring depending on plant transplantation to the ecosystem for a limited period of time. In order to keep the biodiversity in the area, one should consider the impact of native and non-native macrophyte species on the ecosystem and the importance of system management [3].

Plant macrophytes are known to be sensitive to a particular threshold of climatic and non-climatic conditions. They potentially seem to be a good indicator of climatic impacts, changes, or hazards [7]. The use of Bryophyte species in monitoring programs is increasing because of the wide range of their anatomical, morphological, and physiological properties that have been extensively reviewed by (Zechmeister & Moser, 2003).

Bryophytes (mosses and liverwort) in fact are green Cryptogams comprising about (25,000) species, whereas mosses only make up around (15,000) species. Generally, this group of lower plants (Bryophytes) is known to be the major component of various different types of ecosystems from peat lands to the boreal forest floor [62]. Although sphagnum bags cover about 1–2% of the global land surface, many mosses are associated with the moist environment or freshwater, but no marine bryophytes so far have been recorded [48].

In Iraq, so far, only 209 species of Bryophytes have been recorded [51] from which only 16 species belong to liverworts, whereas the list includes 193 species of mosses. The most common ones in the area are illustrated in (**Figure 3**), one of the most

#### **Figure 3.**

*Most common bryophytes (Mosses & Liverworts) in the Kurdistan part of Iraq. Photos are taken from reference no: 4 in the text with a written permission from the author B.A. Basheer Al-Ni'ma.*

comprehensive investigations on Iraqi bryophytes is that of [49] as they described all identified mosses and liverwort species in Iraq up to 1960. They gave a good description of all taxa. Also, they forwarded the key of identification for all 54 genera and 145 species besides their habitat and environmental condition of the localities.

The detailed investigation of Bryophytes species and their influence on climatic or non-climatic impact, as well as their role in ecological monitoring for the best of our knowledge, have not been thoroughly dealt with in Mesopotamia (Iraq or Kurdistan) yet. *A Case Study to Evaluate the Environmental Impact of Aquatic Lower Plants in Mesopotamia… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108974*

However, such a gap in knowledge on the role of bryophytes in the environment in this part of the world (Mesopotamia) needs to be fully filled in years to come by local or other scientists.
