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The mission of the International Association of Bryologists (IAB), as a society, is to strengthen bryology by encouraging interactions among all persons interested in byophytes.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

moss culture - sterile or open?

Subject: RE: BRYONET: regarding moss culture
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 21:50:41 -0500
From: Richard.Zander@mobot.org

BRYONET

Of course there is fungal contamination. In all but the most stringent
axenic techniques, fungi will grow if there is organic material in the
substrate. There are descriptions in the literature of axenic technique:
probably the most common is sterilizing a capsule in dilute bleach, then
busting it open so sterile (one hopes) spores are scattered on sterile
media.

My own experience is to simply scatter crumbled dry moss plants on perlite
soaked with an inorganic nutrient solution in small vials. Whatever grows
from the original material will give some information on what a "common
garden" might produce. This is a race between the moss regeneration and the
growth of algae and fungi. It was mostly the algae that seemed to grow
faster than the moss, not the fungi, but when the moss grows fastest you can
get good quasi-experimental results (requiring many duplicates that produce
the same result regardless of contaminant).

Thus, if you want good, standard experimental axenic results, use axenic
technique, and make lots of duplicates because many will be contaminated
inadvertently. The Race of Phyla is an alternative that can give fairly good
information, but check your major professor's attitude on this (look up
"quasi-experimentation" on the Web but don't argue too hard for it).

Remember, graduate students, attempt ONLY the study that can be completed in
a reasonable time frame; never never try to develop new techniques before
the Ph.D. I remember a graduate student who tried to create a genuine
woodland stream in a trough in a greenhouse. Didn't work, and kept failing
simply because of multiple mechanical problems, and the graduate student
never graduated. Not his fault, but . . .

My attempt at moss culture was reported in: Regenerated herbarium material
for biosystematics and cytology. Bryologist 82: 323. 1979.

______________________
Richard H. Zander
Bryology Group
Missouri Botanical Garden
PO Box 299
St. Louis, MO 63166-0299
richard.zander@mobot.org <mailto:richard.zander@mobot.org>
Voice: 314-577-5180
Fax: 314-577-9595
Websites
Bryophyte Volumes of Flora of North America:
http://ridgwaydb.mobot.org/bfna/bfnamenu.htm
Res Botanica:
http://ridgwaydb.mobot.org/resbot/index.htm
Shipping address for UPS, etc.:
Missouri Botanical Garden
4344 Shaw Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63110

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