A patch of moss that has been destroyed by trampling may take years or decades to re-establish, because moss growth is slow in the nutrient-poor, highly acidic conditions of the summit.

This is one reason why off-trail walking is particularly damaging on tepui summits — the cryptic bryophyte communities are often the first thing destroyed by foot traffic, and their recovery is very slow.

The bryophyte flora of the tepui summits is, like the flowering plant flora, highly endemic.

Many species of summit mosses and liverworts are found only on tepui summits or even on individual summits, products of the same long isolation that has driven the endemism of the more charismatic plants and animals.

The bryophyte diversity of the tepui highlands is incompletely studied — new species are still being found and named — and represents a largely unexplored reservoir of biological diversity.