Dear all,
The Jepson Herbarium is again teaching bryophyte classes in 2009. To
register for one or both of these classes, see:
http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/workshops/2009/regform_2009.html
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Intermediate Bryology
February 21 =96 22, 2009
Brent Mishler and Ken Kellman
Location: Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley
This two-day class will build upon the skills taught in the Jepson
Herbarium introductory bryology class (or equivalent preparation
elsewhere). Specifically, we will work towards genus recognition of
all California mosses and liverworts, and use more advanced keys than
those used in the beginner's class. Emphasis will be on the bryoflora
of the central coast, but participants are encouraged to bring their
own collections to work on. Lecture time will be kept to a minimum,
so that students will be able to maximize time in the lab working with
microscopes collaboratively on plants. There will be no field trip.
Participants will be expected to know beginning dissection techniques,
and to understand basic bryophyte biology and morphology. Completion
of the beginner's class is strongly recommended. Participants should
bring the Norris and Shevock "Key to the Mosses" (Madro=F1o vol. 51,
issue 2) and Doyle and Stotler "Keys and Annotated species Catalogue
for Liverworts and Hornworts" (Madro=F1o vol. 53, issue 2). Copies can
be purchased in advance from Heather Driscoll, Corresponding Secretary
for the California Botanical Society (email:
or phone: (510) 643-7008), or, can be purchased at the workshop.
Ken Kellman is a Field Associate at the California Academy of Sciences
who has been studying bryophytes since 1995. Ken has published a
catalog of the Mosses of Santa Cruz County California and is currently
working on a Catalog of the Bryophytes of Monterey County. He is
largely self-taught, which puts him in the position of understanding
how to teach and encourage beginning bryologists.
Brent D. Mishler is Director of the University and Jepson Herbaria as
well as Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology, where he
teaches systematics and plant diversity. He received his Ph.D. from
Harvard University in 1984. His research interests are in the
systematics, evolution, and ecology of bryophytes, especially the
diverse moss genus Tortula, as well as in the phylogeny of green
plants and the theory of systematics.
Course fee ($235/$260)
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Grimmia
February 28 =96 March 1, 2009
Roxanne Hastings
Location: Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley
The genus Grimmia is the most diverse and abundant group of moss to
inhabit the higher and dryer parts of western North America. Given
California's diverse rocky landscape it is not surprising that it has
the highest species richness and the most number of endemic Grimmia to
be found anywhere in the world! Grimmia form an important component of
the saxicolous bryoflora and their abundance and diversity means that
they cannot be easily ignored. However, Grimmia species have a
notorious reputation for being difficult to recognize, in part because
they can only be identified with a compound microscopic, but also
because most species are separated by a suite of intergrading relative
characters. This makes using dichotomous keys unreliable and
needlessly difficult. The key to identifying Grimmia is to toss away
the keys and use a series of tables. Once the genus is broken into
four easily recognized subgenera, identification can be rapidly and
reliably accomplished by comparing a diversity of characters with the
tables. This workshop will focus on learning the key characters of
Grimmia that are critical to using the tables and on how to chop up a
Grimmia specimen to maximize the probability of correct identification
with as few steps as possible.
Roxanne Hastings is the Curator of Botany at the Royal Alberta Museum.
She received her Masters in Plant Ecology from the University of
Alberta (1984) and her current research focuses on moss systematics
and floristic biogeography as related to continental drift and the
structure of ancient continental landscapes. She has contributed
treatments of Grimmia and Coscinodon to the Bryophyte Flora of North
America, and has published five new species in the Grimmiaceae and one
new lichen taxon. Currently Roxy is working on several new treatments
of Grimmia from California.
Course fee ($235/$260)
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