Freshwater tidal marshes are dynamic and productive ecosystems that provide habitats to a variety of plant communities. Bryophytes are one of these communities that can play an important role in colonization as pioneers in newly developing tidal nature. This study aimed to discover the effect of inundation, salinity, and soil texture on bryophyte diversity and abundance in a controlled mesocosm setting. In contrast to our hypothesis, we found that bryophyte coverage and diversity were highest under saline circumstances with a low inundation frequency. Additionally, we found that silty loam soils had increased bryophyte coverage compared to silty loam soils mixed with gravel. These results indicate that multiple environmental factors can be important drivers of bryophyte community characteristics in tidal ecosystems. Lastly, this study successfully estimated vegetation cover using machine learning based image classification, proving the usefulness of this technique for mesoscale setups.