Bryophyte Collections Research Articles

Utilising bryophyte herbarium material as a source of fungal novelty: a case study presenting new records of Bryobroma gymnomitrii (Döbbeler) Döbbeler on Gymnomitrion Corda in Britain and North America

ABSTRACT Introduction Bryophyte herbarium material often contains inadvertently collected bryophilous fungi preserved with their host plant tissues, providing snapshots of the biotic aspects of bryophyte ecology in space and time. During an ongoing project to study bryophilous fungi on leafy liverworts in the genus Gymnomitrion, new records of the bryophilous ascomycete Bryobroma gymnomitrii (≡ Bryomyces gymnomitrii) were discovered in herbarium material from areas in which the fungus was previously unknown. While many host vouchers were screened, the fungus was observed in only five collections. Using B. gymnomitrii as a case study, some of the advantages and limitations associated with the utility of bryophyte collections for bryo-mycological analyses are considered. Methods More than 400 herbarium specimens from across Europe and North America were screened for the presence of fungi by different researchers at the following four herbaria: ALA, BBSUK, NMW and OSC. Key results and conclusions Bryobroma gymnomitrii appears to be specific to Gymnomitrion concinnatum and G. corallioides, forming gregarious, black perithecioid fruitbodies on the lower parts of host shoots. The study expands the known distribution of the fungus from a stronghold in northern and northeastern Europe to include the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. One of the host bryophytes, G. corallioides, is threatened by deterioration of its high-altitude Arctic-montane habitats, especially along the southern parts of its range, including Britain and Ireland. Our work supports the concept that research utilising herbarium material may provide valuable, unexpected outcomes, with bryophytes as important sources of fungi that have been inadvertently collected in the past.

New Records for the Liverwort and Hornwort Flora of Vietnam, 3

Pierre Tixier deposited a large amount of bryophyte collections, including epiphylls, in the Cryptogamic Herbarium of the Natural History Museum in Paris (PC). A very large part of his valuable epiphyllous specimens collected between 1957 and 1965 in the southern half of Vietnam remained unidentified. Based on study of a small portion of these collections, 44 species are reported including six new to the country (Dendroceros subplanus, Ceratolejeunea singapurensis, Cheilolejeunea rigidula, Cololejeunea angulata, C. stephanii and Thysananthus aculeatus). Ceratolejeunea and Dendroceros are genera new to Vietnam.

New species and noteworthy records from Herbarium Croaticum (ZA) bryophyte collection

Prior to this research little was known about the historical Herbarium Croaticum (ZA) bryophyte collection. In 2021 and 2022 the historical bryophyte collection from ZA herbarium was systemised, nomenclaturally revised and geocoded within Flora Croatica Database, revealing as many as 1982 specimens of 335 species gathered across Croatia prior to 2000. Among them, Hylocomiastrum umbratum and Timmiella barbuloides were found to be the new, so-far forgotten species in Croatian bryoflora. From a herbarium voucher, Heterocladium dimorphum was finally confirmed for Croatia. Additionally, noteworthy specimens of rare and underrecorded species, the oldest records and new, previously unknown localities, were presented. Ultimately, the discovered herbarium vouchers provide a revision and verification of historical records previously known only from literature.

Historical bryophyte specimens from Montenegro in the Hungarian Natural History Museum

184 specimens, collected by ten persons between 1890–1975 from Montenegro, were found in the Bryophyte Collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum. Most of the specimens (40%) were collected near Herceg Novi in Boka Kotorska Bay. Another significant part of the specimens (35%) was collected in Kotor or in the surrounding of the town. 18% of the specimens derives from the Orjen Mts. The others are sporadic records from various parts of Montenegro. 80% of the specimens were unpublished. Most of the species found are common, widespread members of the Montenegrin flora, but some rare elements were also found. The Mediterranean, subMediterranean liverworts (Cephaloziella turneri, Myriocoleopsis minutissima, Scapania compacta and Southbya tophacea) from the surroundings of Herceg Novi that are rare in Montenegro are the most important from the point of view of nature conservation.

Floristic composition of bryophytes in disturbed habitats of two different elevations in Chandragiri Hill, central Nepal

Bryophytes are small, photosynthetic plants, capable of growing on variety of habitats, so are pioneer of ecological succession. In Nepal bryophytes have been studied floristically in different parts of the country, but the impact of disturbance on floristic composition was lacking. Therefore, present study aimed to determine floristic composition of bryophytes especially on disturbed habitat generated by recently established Cable Car facility in Chandragiri hill, Kathmandu. The study area, highly disturbed at the base (1550-1600 m asl) and top of the hill (2400-2450 m asl), were selected for the collection of bryophytes. Altogether, 17 species of bryophytes including 5 liverworts, 11 mosses and 1 hornwort were recorded from the disturbed habitats. Among the 5 classes, Bryopsida was the most dominant class followed by the class Marchantiopsida, Polytrichopsida, Jungermanniopsida and Anthocerotopsida. Impact of elevation on diversity of bryophytes was observed in both sites of disturbed habitats. The diversity of bryophyte was found higher (13 species) at the base of the hill as compared to the top (8 species). Among the 17 species of bryophytes, 5 taxa (Aerobryidium filamentosum, Anomobryum auratum, Atrichum undulatum var. subserratum, Chiloscyphus profundus and Plagiomnium ellipticum) that have not been enumerated from the study site so far were also documented.

Bryophytes from Uei Tepui (Serra Do Sol), with Liverworts New to Brazil and the Description of Leptoscyphus incisus sp. nov.

A collection of bryophytes from Uei tepui in Mount Roraima National Park, Roraima state, northern Brazil, yielded 45 species, in 25 genera and 15 families. Twenty four species are new to state of Roraima, of which seven are new to the Brazilian Amazon domain and six species are new to Brazil: Colura rhynchophora Jovet-Ast, Frullania mirabilis J.B.Jack & Steph., Micropterygium bialatum Fulford, M. tumidulum Fulford, Plagiochila steyermarkii H.Rob. and Syzygiella campanulata Herzog. The liverwort Leptoscyphus incisus Gradst., F.R.Oliveira-da-Silva & Ilk.-Borg., sp. nov. is described as new to science. The new species is characterized by plants autoicous, leaves bifid to trifid and underleaves absent or rudimentary.

Bryophyte specimen organization and storage systems: A comparative assessment of staff practices and user preferences

Discussions of curation practices for bryophyte collections have a long history in the literature dating back to the 19th and 20th centuries. This study aims to 1) document and synthesize the range of bryophyte storage and organization systems staff report using in European and North American herbaria, as well as the rationale behind these practices; 2) compare/contrast these practices and rationale with the curation preferences and rationale of active herbarium users; and 3) facilitate further discussion regarding practices for curating bryophyte collections. We collected survey data regarding staff curation practices at and user curation preferences for bryophyte collections in Europe and North America. We used regression models and thematic analysis to analyze our quantitative data and qualitative data, respectively. We found that institutional demographics, such as geographic location, institution type, and total herbarium size are significant predictors of bryophyte specimen storage and organization practices, and that user demographics, such as age, active bryology research agenda, and current primary title were significant predictors of the storage preferences of herbarium users. The most common theme that emerged in the practice/preference explanations of staff members and herbarium users was convenience/accessibility. Other prevalent themes in staff and user explanations for their bryophyte curation practices/preferences include physical factors, inherited tradition, lack of expertise, and phylogenetic/taxonomic concerns. Our findings also suggest the context in which members of the bryological community operate plays a significant role in shaping individuals' curation practices/preferences, including both institutional and user demographics. We conclude by offering a discussion of recommendations for bryophyte specimen storage and organization at herbaria.

MHA Herbarium: Collections of mosses from Yana-Indigirka Region, Yakutia, Russia.

BackgroundThe Skvortsov Herbarium of the Tsitsin Main Botanical Garden, Russian Academy of Sciences (MHA) in the 1945-1980s dealt with vascular plants and only scattered occasional collections of bryophytes and lichens were accumulated there without special arrangement. Since the late 1980s, the bryophyte studies in the MHA Herbarium became permanent and several projects were started since then, including the currently conducted “Moss Flora of Russia”. There are many white spots on the map of bryophyte exploration of Russia, but one of the most conspicuous was Yakutia, the largest administrative unit of Russia, covering 3,081,000 km2. Yana-Indigirka Region, originally defined as a floristic region, includes Verkhoyansky Range and some smaller adjacent mountain areas. It is the largest amongst the bryofloristic regions in Russia, but exploration of its territory, which is difficult to access, remains far from complete.New informationSeveral expeditions of the Institute for Biological Problems of Cryolithozone, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Main Botanical Garden, Russian Academy of Sciences in 2000-2018 yielded in many bryophyte specimens, partly published in a number of papers. This dataset comprehensively represents the diversity of mosses of the Region. It includes 7,738 records of moss specimens preserved in the MHA Herbarium.

The mycological collection of G. C. Girgensohn from the middle of the 19th century

Since 1844, vouchers of mycological specimens collected from the territory of the historic Baltic provinces of the Russian Empire have been preserved in Estonian natural history collections. A pedagogue and an amateur bryologist, Gustav Carl Girgensohn (1786–1872) compiled a collection of 109 specimens of fungi and myxomycetes sampled from the Livonian Governorate, mostly from the vicinity of Tartu, in years 1844–1859. Girgensohn’s collection, which is kept in the fungarium of the Estonian University of Life Sciences, is introduced here for the first time. Among his specimens there are two notable ascomycetes—coprophilous Poronia punctata (Xylariaceae, Sordariomycetes), recently evaluated in Estonia as Critically Endangered according to IUCN criteria, and Microstoma protractum (Sarcoscyphaceae, Pezizomycetes), recently evaluated as Endangered. The collection’s eleven quite well-preserved specimens of myxomycetes represent six species, the least common of which is Diderma radiatum. In addition, the article introduces nine lichen specimens and one fungal specimen from Girgensohn’s bryophyte collection at the Natural History Museum of the University of Tartu. The most remarkable species among this collection is Lobaria pulmonaria (Lobariaceae, Lecanoromycetes), red-listed and protected in many countries.

Bryophyte novelties from the Arabian Peninsula and Socotra Island

Based on unedited bryophyte collections from the Arabian Peninsula and Socotra Island, six new records of mosses are reported for the area. New to the Arabian Peninsula are Pohlia elongata and Ptychostomum cernuum, the remaining four species are new records for Saudi Arabia, resp. Yemen (mainland) and the Socotra Archipelago. Most interesting is Hymenostylium hildebrandtii from the Makkah-Taif area, indicating the influence of the south-western monsoon rainfall far to the north. All taxa show major range extensions in Southwest Asia and contribute to the floristic diversity of the Arabian Peninsula.

Bryophyte collection BEOU – a neglected national research treasure

Bryophyte collection BEOU – a neglected national research treasure

Современное состояние Гербария Амурского филиала Ботанического сада-института ДВО РАН (ABGI)

The history of formation, structure and content of the Herbarium of the AB BGI FEB RAS (ABGI) are considered. The Herbarium maintains the collection of vascular plants, bryophytes and macromycetes specimens collected mainly from the Amur region territory. There are currently 26400 specimens in the Herbarium, of them 22700 are vascular plants, 1700 are bryophytes and 2000 are fungi. About 10000 herbarium specimens of vascular plants are available in digital format and at least 5000 samples will be digitising annually.

Notes on 1964 Daniel Norris Bryophyte Collections from the Dominican Republic

Examination of over 150 Norris 1964 collections from the Dominican Republic includes one moss, Solmsiella biseriatum (Aust.) Steere and many hepatics of which Lejeuneaceae are listed. A new Antillean record first determined as Diplasiolejeunea involuta Winkler of Central America is now reduced to synonymy under the South American Diplasiolejeunea pauckertii (Nees) Steph.

On a Bryophyte Collection from the Maltese Islands

During a recent visit of the Maltese Islands Malta and Gozo in January 2018, some 200 collections of bryophytes have been done representing one species of hornworts, 14 species of liverworts and 49 species of mosses, among these six first records (Riccia ciliata Hoffm., Targionia lorbeeriana Müll.Frib., Amblystegium serpens (Hedw.) Schimp., Cheilothela chloropus (Brid.) K.Saito, Ephemerum recurvifolium (Dicks.) Boulay, and Tortula cuneifolia (Dicks.) Turner). Riccia ciliifera Link ex Lindenb., Riccia crozalsii Levier and Acaulon muticum (Hedw.) Müll.Hal. have been redetected after more than 100 years, and the occurrence of three very recently reported species (Cephaloziella baumgartneri Schiffn., Astomum crispum (Hedw.) Hampe and Tortula vahliana (Schultz) Mont.) has been confirmed.

Bryophytes of Zhelania Cape, Severny Island, Novaya Zemlya Archipelago in the Russian Arctic

We present the results of a revsion of an extensive set of collections of bryophytes from the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago northern extremity, the northern‐most sector of polar deserts, which until now has been poorly explored in terms of the bryophyte flora. The checklist produced includes 24 liverwort and 135 moss species. Thirteen species, viz. Lophoziopsis propagulifera, Scapania degenii, Brachytheciastrum collinum, Bryoerythrophyllum cf. rubrum, Bucklandiella microcarpa, Campylium laxifolium, C. longicuspis, Dicranum schljakovii, Drepanium recurvatum, Flexitrichum gracile, Grimmia longirostris, Hamatocaulis vernicosus and Pseudocalliergon angustifolium are reported for the first time from the polar desert region. Though in number of species known the area loses only to the more intensively studied NE Land of Svalbard, a comparative analysis suggests that our study area is still incompletely known and suffers from ‘phytosociological sampling’ which underestimates the number of small pioneer mosses. A comparative analysis based on published data on other areas of the polar desert region is presented but the results does not confirm previously proposed floristic subdivisions of the polar desert region and may be strongly influenced by incomplete and biased sampling. Some species have a higher share in the vegetation cover of the polar desert region than elsewhere, thus contributing to its segregation and among these are mostly calciphilous/basiphilous species.

S. B. Gorski’s Bryological Collection in the Herbarium of Vilnius University

Stanisław Batys Gorski (1802–1864) was a pharmacist, botanist, and entomologist. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, he headed the Vilnius University Botanical Garden and lectured on botany at the Imperial University of Vilnius and the Vilnius Medical and Surgical Academy. It is a known fact that the Herbarium of Vilnius University (WI) contains Gorski’s largest collection of vascular plants. In 2016, the nineteenth-century collection of bryophytes in WI was analyzed. The analysis of handwriting on specimen labels, as well as their style, showed that more than half of the collection had been compiled by Gorski. The purpose of this study is to present Gorski’s reassembled bryological collection, which contains 729 specimens of bryophytes and is stored in the Herbarium of Vilnius University.

Bryophytes as a material to build birds’ nests in Brazil.

Birds’ nests are elaborate constructions that are built to provide a safe and secure environment for the eggs and hatchlings of birds to develop. Twigs and leaves represent common nesting materials in birds’ nests globally and with their beaks, they can carry materials, sometimes larger than the birds themselves, to construct their nests. In addition to twigs and leaves, birds also use various other materials less frequently, such as bryophytes, and in this study we examined the prevalence of bryophytes in birds’ nests in Brazil. We analyzed the nest composition of 21 birds’ nests from the Brazilian bryophyte collection at the Institute of Botany (SP Herbarium) and found that bryophytes were a widely used nesting material. The liverworts were dominant in terms of the species richness and the main structural components of the nests were mosses because they represent the main group of structurally bigger and constitutive bryophytes in the habitat in which the birds bred.

KERAGAMAN LUMUT DAUN DI HUTAN BEKAS TERBAKAR BUKIT BANGKIRAI, KALIMANTAN TIMUR=MOSS DIVERSITY IN THE FOREST FIRE FROM BUKIT BANGKIRAI, EAST KALIMANTAN

Bukit Bangkirai is a public recreation forest in East Kalimantan. During the long dry season in 1982-1983 and 1997-1998 some parts of the forest have burnt out, only small part war escaped. Bryophytes are small plant and usually abundantly grows on the forest.The Bryodiversity research in the Bukit Bangkirai has been done in the 2000 to 2003.Total sample of bryophyte collections about 3000 numbers since seven period collections and the result of identification were found 92 species including 27 genera and 9 families.The dominant mosses found are Achantorrhynchium papilatum, Arthrocormus schimperi,Leucobryum sanctum, Octoblepharum albidum, Pyrrhobryum spiniforme, Syrrhopodonalbovaginatus and Syrrhopodon spiculosus. Only four species found in control plot.They are Ctenidium malacobolum, Fissidens zippleianus, Groutiella tomentosa and Taxithellium lindbergii. Acroporium diminutum, Leucobryum juniperinoides, Calymperes aeruginosum, Fissidens robinsonii and Syrrhopodon semilimber were only found in the light damage plot and Fissidens wichurae, Isopterygium textori, Leucobryum bowringii,Syrrhopodon confertus were only found in the heavy damage plot. The mosses usuallygrows on the soil and rotten logs in damp site.Key words: Bangkirai forest recreation, east Kalimantan, mosses, burn areas,diversity.

Bryoflora and landscapes of the Eastern Andes of Central Peru: : I. Liverworts of the El Sira Communal Reserve

A total of 171 liverwort species in 51 genera from 18 families have been identified to date from bryophyte collections made in the Cordillera El Sira, an isolated outlying range of the eastern Andes in central Peru. The El Sira uplift is steep, rugged and hyper-humid, with annual rainfall recorded in excess of 7500 mm. Collections were made across an elevational range of approximately 2000 meters on the eastern escarpment of the Cordillera. These reveal a diverse bryophyte assemblage with distinct distributional patterns reflecting climatic, edaphic and micro-habitat heterogeneity. 38 new distribution records for Peru are reported

Selecting important areas for bryophyte conservation: Is the higher taxa approach an effective method?

Surrogates have been used as a support for conservation practices, since they are easier to assess and less time consuming than collecting species-level data. One of these surrogates is the “higher taxa approach”, i.e., the use of data with coarser taxonomic resolution than the species level, such as genus and family levels, as a surrogate for total species richness.The aim of this work was to test if higher taxa (Genera) could be used in the selection of important areas for bryophyte conservation, using three different methodological approaches: Scoring, Important Plant Areas and Complementarity-based approach. We tested these approaches in a protected area, the Peneda-Gerês National Park, one of the best studied areas in Portugal for bryophytes and one of the first areas in the country with bryophyte collections. The knowledge of bryophyte distribution in this National Park has been increasing and distribution maps and detailed species lists were recently published, so we thought it would be a good area to test if the higher taxa approach is an effective method for selecting important areas for bryophyte conservation.Our results showed that localities were ranked in a similar way using species or genera data, regardless of the methodology used. The Complementarity-based approach in comparison with other methodologies protected a higher percentage of bryophyte species.In general, the three approaches identified the same areas as important areas for bryophyte conservation. Therefore, for the studied area and independently of the approach used, genera could be used in the selection of important areas for bryophyte conservation.