IAB blog: August 2008

Friday, August 29, 2008

New Bryophyte website

Sent by Cargill, Chris
to bryonet

Today was the official launch of a new cryptogam website on the Australian National Botanic Garden website. Sponsored by the Friends of the Botanic Gardens, we were able to contract our honorary associate and resident mycologist Heino Lepp to compliment our other cryptogam website on the fungi ( http://www.anbg.gov.au/fungi/index.html ) with a bryophyte website. Heino developed both websites, providing the text, diagrams, and many of the photos. It is aimed at both the public, interested amateurs and professionals alike. Please check it out and any feedback welcome. Please send feedback to me rather than the whole of bryonet unless of interest to all. http://www.anbg.gov.au/bryophyte/index.html Cheers Chris

Job opportunity at the NHM

Sent by Joanna Wilbraham
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

The following appointment is being advertised at the Natural History
Museum, London, and may be of interest to some of you. Details below:

The Museum is seeking two research assistants for an initial 6 months
fixed term post (with likely extension to 18 months subject to further
funding) to database and digitise its bryophyte type collections (Latin
America & Asia) as part of an internationally collaborative project.

You will have a degree or equivalent experience in biological sciences
or a related discipline, and experience of working with biological
collections and appropriate database and digitisation software. Other
desirable qualities include specific experience of working with
bryological collections in a taxonomic environment, a good knowledge of
geography, and an understanding of plant nomenclature and typification.

You will have the ability to work in a focused manner with close
attention to detail, be responsible and committed, and have a positive
and enthusiastic attitude.

Closing date for applications: 10 September 2008

Equal Opportunities
At the Natural History Museum we value the diversity of our employees
and the benefits that they bring to the organisation=20

Application Information
For a full job description and to apply online, please visit the Natural
History Museum website at www.nhm.ac.uk/jobs

Thursday, August 28, 2008

The Bryological Times Vol. 125 (May 2008) now available!

Another example of News and Events as entries to the blog

The Bryological Times Vol. 125 (May 2008) available for members!

The Editor of BT as collaborator will be able to post an entry here to announce availability of the most recent BT issue with a link to IAB web site for download as usual.

A script can be inserted al the IAB home web page http://www.bryology.org/index.html
to scan the blog and display a feed with such announcements within the box "News and Events", all this without Uwe intervention every time there is an announcement.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Hornworts

Anthoceros peruvianus, Misiones, Argentina

Hornworts are thalloid and have linear "horn-like" capsules that split into two valves when mature. The cells of the thallus usually have only one chloroplast per cell - a condition not found in mosses or liverworts.

Liverworts

Conocephalum conicum

Most liverworts are leafy (like mosses) but a few are thalloid (composed of a flattened body - the thallus - that is not differentiated into stem and leaves).

Metzgeria furcata

Leafy liverworts have 2 or 3 rows of leaves on their stems. The leaves never have a costa and often they are rounded or have 2-4 points at their tips, and are folded. If present, the leaves on the underside of the stem (the underleaves) are often reduced and usually pressed flat to the stem. Because the underleaves are reduced or absent, the larger stem leaves have a flattened appeareance, an arrangement that is rare in mosses.

Tritomaria quinquedentata

Mosses

Holomitrium crispulum - Amboró, Ecuador

Moss stems may be branched and have green leaves that are usually one cell thick. Often there is a bundle of cells (costa) present.
Moss leaves vary greatly in appearance, (including shiny, dull; red, green, or yellow), when they are moist or dry, and often change in orientation.

Tayloria mirabils - Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

Sphagnum fuscum and S. capillifolium; Rhön Mountains, Germany

What is Bryology / a Bryologist?

Bryology is the study of mosses, liverworts, and hornworts (otherwise known collectively as Bryophytes).

Bryophytes are green land plants; there are approximately 15,000 species (9000 mosses, 5-6000 liverworts).
(The following text was adapted from Johnson, et al., 1995. Plants of the Western Boreal Forest & Aspen Parkland.)

Brachythecium rutabulum

Most plants that people tend to think of are vascular (they contain internal tubes for transporting food and water within them) such as most house plants, flowering plants, etc. Bryophytes have poorly developed tubes - they are non-vascular plants. And, instead of reproducing with seeds, bryophytes reproduce using spores.

Bryum cryophyllum - Northwest Territories, Canada

Because of the way bryophytes transport food and water, and because they require water for reproduction, bryophytes are small plants, and are most often abundant in wet places. However, many are quite drought tolerant and occur on trunks of trees, in forest canopies, and on dry rock surfaces.

Mooses on dry rocks (Rhön Mountains, Germany)
(Racomitrium lanuginosum, R. heterostichum, R. microcarpum, Andreaea rupestris and others)

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

diaspore bank samples - open boxes

Subject: diaspore bank samples
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 16:23:48 +0200
From: H.J.During <H.J.During@bio.uu.nl>

Jakob Raath
Rhodes University
S Africa

Dear Jakob,
after my holidays I found the discussion initiated by you on Bryonet, and
though I hesitate to start it again there, I would like to send you some
comments. Your project is obviously very interesting for me, as I have
been doing several studies on bryophyte diaspore banks, including one on
samples from a savanna (Hazelside fire plots) in Zimbabwe, not too far from
your site and likewise often subject to fire. Your initial results sound
very good!
I have always used the same method as you did, soil samples spread out over
sterilized sand in closed boxes, the only difference perhaps being that I
used square boxes (7x7 cm, 5 cm high) which allow some more space for the
plants to grow and sporophytes to develop than petri dishes. I did get
fungal infections occasionally, but never losot complete cultures to them -
but they were obviously nastiest when the booxes were kept in the
greenhouse in our summer, with high temperatures and low light (direct
sunlight is screened away in our greenhouse). Fungi are much less of a
problem in growth cabinets, where I often worked at temperatures of 16 or
20 C to compensate a bit for the rather low light levels. For how long did
you cultivate the samples? My experience is, that the first half year or so
fungi are not really a problem, but later they may get worse (as may algae
be). Of course, in conditions with higher temperatures, as you are likely
to face in summer, things may ge a lot faster. And of course, avoid at all
times to expose your boxes or petri dishes to direct sunlight - such
exposure usually leads rapidly to very high temperatures killing your
bryophytes, and then an invasion of fungi is inevitable.
So, a solution to your problem may depend on the facilities available to
you. If you have no possibilities to control light and temperature more
rigorously, Janice's suggestion to put your samples in open containers in
much larger boxes which themselves are closed sounds very good to me - as
a control, you might add a few petri dishes with only sterilized soil, to
see which species might be blown in in your set-up. This method of open
dishes with the use of controls has been practised a lot by Irene Bisang in
her work on diaspore banks of agricultural soils.
I'm not sure how easy it is for you to obtain literature; if you need some
reprints (I wrote some review papers as well as some practical studies on
bryophyte diaspore banks) please do not hesitate to ask me.
I look forward to your response, and I hope that the e-mail address is correct.
Regards,
Heinjo During
H.J. During
Department of Plant Ecology
F.A.F.C. Went Building, P.O. Box 800.84
NL-3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands
Tel. +31 30 2536847
Fax +31 30 2518366
e-mail h.j.during@bio.uu.nl

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

moss culture - later contamination

Subject: BRYONET: regarding moss culture
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 16:34:33 +0300
From: M. Evrim Demir <medemir@adu.edu.tr>

BRYONET

Hi,

I tried culturing mosses too. I used only agar as a medium, without any
nutrients. First I autoclaved my medium and petri dishes for 15 minutes,
then poured agar into petri in laminar flow cabin. After they are ready I
put my plants into the cabin, and surface sterilized, then I put plant
fragments into the petri dishes. I stored dishes in a growth chamber with
controlled light and temperature.

But I have some problems with fungal contamination. After a time some fungal
agents develop in the petri dishes.

Evrim Demir

---
M. Evrim Demir
Adnan Menderes University
Faculty of Arts and Science
Department of Biology
Aydin - Turkey

medemir@adu.edu.tr

light quality?

BRYONET
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 21:42:22 -0500
From: "Perry, Jim" <jperry@uwc.edu>
Subject: moss spore germination

I wonder if you can help me. Somewhere or another I found an experiment on
the moss spore germination as a function of light quality. I designed an
experiment using white, blue, green, and red light. For the life of me I
cannot find the reference to predict what should happen, and I am being
ask this question. I even looked in your (Janice's) book and lab manual,
but did not find it.

Is there any chance you can help me?

Thanks,

jim

James W. Perry
CEO/Campus Dean
Professor, Biological Sciences
UW-Fox Valley

moss culture - keeping sterile

Subject: BRYONET: Re: regarding moss culture
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 11:59:21 -0400 (EDT)
From: Janice M. Glime <jmglime@mtu.edu>
To: jakob raath <lungumabel@yahoo.co.uk>

BRYONET

Dear Jakob,
I would sugest you make two changes in your protocol. First, do not
open the plates in the greenhouse. It will have lots of fungal spores and
sufficient air movement to contaminate your cultures. If at all possible,
take them to a clean room and open them in a sterile area. If this is not
practical, clean an area of the greenhouse with disinfectant and put up a
barrier around your working area to reduce air movement while you work.
The best solution would be to make a small hood with a plexiglass front
and two holes for your hands. Make a cloth or other flexible collar for
the opening so it makes a seal around your hands when you work with your
plate inside. You can put a microscope inside if you need and make a
small hole for the oculars. For added protection, you can install a UV
bulb and white light bulb (fluorescent). Turn on the UV when you are not
working and the white light when you are. You may need to disinfect this
chamber before each use.
My second suggestion, which you might already be doing, is to use a
non-nutrient agar. Put only mineral nutrients in the agar so there is a
low nutrient and as little as possible carbon source for fungi and
bacteria. Mosses need much lower nutrient concentrations than other
organisms.
You might need to transfer your cultures every 2-3 weeks. Fill the
plates almost to the top to maintain moisture longer.
Seal the plates with tape or preferably parafin film that you replace
after you open it.

Janice
***********************************
Janice M. Glime, Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, MI 49931-1295
jmglime@mtu.edu
906-487-2546
FAX 906-487-3167
***********************************

regarding moss culture - sterilization technique

Subject: BRYONET: regarding moss culture
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 16:24:15 +0100 (BST)
From: [iso-8859-1] jakob raath <lungumabel@yahoo.co.uk>

BRYONET

thanks for getting back to me, for sterilisation I took all my petri
dishes and autoclaved them for 15 mins. I also autoclaved river sand which
is the substrate on which the mosses are growing.

I then subjected 30 gram amounts of diaspore bank to different fire
simulations in an oven at 100 degrees and 200 degrees and afor two
different durations 2 minutes and 5 minutes.

I then put each differently treated sample of diaspore bank into a petri
dish labeled with its type of treatment and put them into the green house
where I open them once a week to count what is growing.

the temperature of the green house is wam and the dishes are sealed tight
with enough moisture for the mosses to stay moist.

I hope that gives you a better idea.

thanks for your help
Jakob Raath

sterile moss cultures - cleaning?

Subject: RE: BRYONET: sterile moss cultures
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 08:29:35 -0400
From: Valerie Pence <valerie.pence@cincinnatizoo.org>

BRYONET

Jakob,

We have done some moss tissue culture. How did you initiate your cultures?
I.e., how did you clean your spores before culturing them and what is your
medium?

Valerie Pence
Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden

sterile moss cultures - fungicide?

Subject: BRYONET: sterile moss cultures
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 12:16:28 -0400 (EDT)

BRYONET

From: g01r1329@campus.ru.ac.za

My name is Jakob Raath, I am doing my honours in Botany at a university called
Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. I am looking for help regarding
mosses as the moss specialists are few and far between here in South Africa, if
fact there are about two I think.

I am conducting an experiment on mosses and their response to fire for an
honours project but the mosses are dying due to a fungus invading the petri
dishes jeopradising my experiment. and thats why I thought that contacting the
Bryologist publication was my best option either foe advice or to be forwarded
to someone who actually may have experience with this type of problem.

As I said its a fungus, I subjected samples diaspore bank from two different
sites to simulated fire treatments in an oven. one site has indigenous plants
and the other is a site with many exotics. so I am comparing not only the
diversity of from each site but also what effect fire of different temperatures
and durations have. So far the results have been interesting as far
more species
come up in the indigenous diaspore bank than that of the exotic.

also different growth patterns and species are appearing with different
treatments.

but a fungus is killing these germinating spores steadily and I need to get rid
of the fungus could you recommend something such as a fungicide that would not
kill the mosses but just the fungus or someone who knows.

any feedback would be greatly appreciated

thank you

Jakob Raath

SOS for Sphagnum - pH?

Subject: RE: BRYONET: SOS for Sphagnum
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2004 13:03:43 +1000
From: Rod Seppelt <Rod.Seppelt@aad.gov.au>
To: <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

BRYONET

I would have to wonder about the pH as well. Also, the wavelength
spectra of the various lights.

Prof. Rod Seppelt,
Australian Antarctic Division
Channel Highway,
Kingston, Tasmania 7050,
Australia
ph: +61 (03) 62 323 438
FAX: +61 (03) 62 323 449
email: rod.seppelt@aad.gov.au

SOS for Sphagnum - day length

Subject: BRYONET: SOS for Sphagnum
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 2004 18:07:24 -0400 (EDT)
From: Janice M. Glime <jmglime@mtu.edu>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

One possibility for the unhappy Sphagnum is the short days. Sphagnum in
many parts of the world enjoys 14-18 hours of light, and even more, this
time of year. However, I doubt that this is the problem, or at least not
all of it. Sphagnum also enjoys high light intensity. But if I had to
make a guess, I would guess that it does not like the distilled water
every day. I would put it in a container with a weak nutrient solution in
the container and water it from below. Distilled water can cause the
cells to burst because the ion concentration inside the cell is greater
than that of the distilled water. We have been successful with Rudolph's
solution. See Rudolph, H. and Voigt, J. U. 1986. Effects of NH4+-N and
NO3--N on growth and metabolism of Sphagnum magellanicum. - Physiol.
Plant. 66: 339-343.

bryophytes on sculpture

Subject: BRYONET: bryophytes on sculpture
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2007 09:52:08 +0100
From: harald.zechmeister@univie.ac.at
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

I have a student who is doing both, biology and art, and who has been
working on a similar project since more than a year and has almost
finished now.
Inkeri should contact him personally:
_grafschafter@hotmail.com_
We have now also the bottle of champagne with moss growing on it for the
celebration of his finish.
regards
Harald

Univ.-Doz. Dr. Harald G. Zechmeister
University of Vienna, Faculty of Life Sciences
Dept. of Conservation Biology, Vegetation- and Landscape Ecology
A-1090 Vienna, Althanstraße 14
Tel.Fax.: ++43 1 8792994
http://131.130.57.33/cvl/zechmeister/bryo/zech.html

Moss-sculpture?

Subject: BRYONET: Moss-sculpture
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 09:14:01 +0200 (EET)
From: Inkeri Ahonen <inkeri.ahonen@aland.net>

BRYONET

Dear Bryonetters,

I was contacted by an artist who would like to make a sculpture with
mosses growing on it. To me the project seems like quite a challenge. The
sculpture will be about 7 meters high, made out of concrete. There will be
a raised pattern representing a tree ( a relief) on one of its surfaces,
and she would like to have mosses growing on that relief. This surface
will be almost upright, so the mosses should be capable of somewhat
epiphytic growth.

So does anyone have some good advice to us:
Concrete is alkaline - what species could she use? The species should be
such that they survive in Southern Finland. Ideally, they should even grow
naturally in Finland so that they can be easily collected for planting.

How could the mosses be planted on the sculpture?
What kind of maintenance they would need?
Anything else to be considered?

With best regards,
Inkeri Ahonen

SOS From Sphagnum - black tips

Subject: BRYONET: SOS From Sphagnum
Date: Fri, 09 Jul 2004 17:17:30 -0400
From: Ping Zhou <pz5@duke.edu>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

Dear all,

We are Sphagnum from Europe and North America. We enjoy 8-hour artificial
light (two bulbs: one is NurtureLite, 1500 Lumens; the other is Watt-Miser
II, 40 watts) and distilled water every day. But now we are not happy. We
have black tips on our branches, spreading from our capitulum branches. We
were healthy when we were in the field. After we were transplanted to the
lab for 6 days, the branch tips became black. However, our close neighbors
Pohlia are pretty healthy even though we have the same light and water.

Can you make some suggestions to save our life? We do not want to die. Life
is good.

Thanks!

ferric nutrition

Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 12:09:14 -0500
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu
From: "Michael A. Grusak" <mgrusak@bcm.tmc.edu>
Subject: RE: BRYONET: ferric tartrate

Dear Bernard,
I thought I would chime in on this one. I haven't cultured bryophytes for
several years, but I do work in the field of Fe nutrition. Ross Koning
commented that sequestrene might be used, as an alternative form of
chelated Fe. I'm not sure which chelate is in sequestrene 440 - it's
probably either DTPA or EDDHA, but in either case, you should note that
most of these synthetic iron chelates are light sensitive and will break
down with time, thereby releasing the Fe. You then end up with Fe
precipitated to phosphates in your solution. You also should keep in mind
that the different chelates have upper pH limits, after which they will
release the Fe. I presume you're not culturing things in the alkaline
range, but it's something to consider. (I'm not sure what the optimal
range is for ferric tartrate.) One additional thing to note is that the
commercial formulations (sequestrene and others) have lots of other things
in them besides just the Fe chelate. In particular, various phenolics have
been identified in some of the commercial preparations - these are a
hold-over from the production of the chelates. So, if you think these
might influence the growth of your cultures, you might want to consider
buying the purified chelates.

Jenny Rowntree also mentioned that some of the culture recipes call for
FeSO4:7H20. This is the ferrous form of Fe, but it should be noted that in
an oxygenated solution, almost all of the ferrous iron in solution will be
converted to ferric iron (of course there will be an equilibrium - but only
a very small amount of ferrous iron will be present). Apparently, even
non-chelated Fe will work in many cases, but I suspect it really boils down
to how actively the cultured cells are growing. Iron is a micronutrient,
after all, and cells don't need that much iron -but an actively growing
culture might benefit from a chelated, readily available iron source.

Cheers,
Mike Grusak

Michael A. Grusak, Ph.D.
USDA-ARS Plant Physiologist
Associate Professor
Dept. of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine
USDA-ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center
1100 Bates Street
Houston, TX 77030-2600

phone: 713-798-7044
FAX: 713-798-7078
e-mail: mgrusak@bcm.tmc.edu
http://www.bcm.tmc.edu/cnrc/faculty/grusak.htm

ferric source

Subject: Re: BRYONET: ferric tartrate
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 09:03:58 +0100
From: Jennifer Rowntree <j.rowntree@rbgkew.org.uk>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

Dear Bernard

I have had a quick look through the ingredients of the media I use
to grow a variety of bryophytes and none of them contain ferric
tartrate. Two (Murashige & Skoog and Parkers) have ferrous sulfate
in various quantities and one (Knops minimal media) has no Fe
compounds at all, although a modified version again contains
FeSO4:7H20. I think (although someone plese correct me if I am
wrong) that it is the amount and possibly oxidation state of the Fe
ions that are important, rather than the form they are delivered in.

Jenny

================================

Dr. Jennifer Rowntree
Bryophyte Conservation Officer
Micropropagation Unit
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Richmond
Surrey
TW9 3AB

Tel: 02083325559
Fax: 02083325524

ferric tartrate or chelated iron?

Subject: RE: BRYONET: ferric tartrate
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 20:09:01 -0400
From: KONING, Ross E. (Biology) <KONING@easternct.edu>
To: <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

BRYONET

Hi Bernard,

I'm not sure if you need ferric tartrate or whether any
chelated iron would do. I have a huge supply of Sequestrene
440 and would be willing to share some with you if you want
to try it. For flowering plant tissue culture it works just
fine...and I've used it in Knopps for ferns.

ross
ECSU (just down the road)

culture medium - ferric tartrate?

Subject: BRYONET: ferric tartrate
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 11:20:36 -0400
From: Bernard Goffinet <goffinet@uconnvm.uconn.edu>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

Dear Colleagues,

I am assembling the components needed for a culture medium. The
medium calls for Ferric Tartrate. This is the most expensive item on
the list and I wonder how essential it is. Would anyone have an idea
whether it can be left out? Thank you, Bernard
--
Bernard Goffinet
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
U-3043 75 North Eagleville Road
University of Connecticut
Storrs CT
06269-3043

phone: 860 486 5290
FAX: 860-486-6364
http://www.eeb.uconn.edu/faculty/goffinet/goffinet.htm

Moss Grower's Handbook

Subject: BRYONET: Moss Grower's Handbook
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2004 21:11:19 -0000
From: Jonathan Sleath <jonathan.sleath@btinternet.com>
To: <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

BRYONET

Some of you may be interested to know that the text of Michael
Fletcher's "Moss Grower's Handbook" is now available as a MS Word file
on the BBS Website.

This book was first privately published in 1991, and has been out of
print for a number of years. It draws on Michael's extensive experience
in mainting a large collection of growing bryophytes from around the
world, mainly in his greenhouse in Reading. There are details of the
techniques that he has developed and found successful, as well as the
problems and difficulties. It is an invaluable resource for anyone
interested in growing bryophytes themselves, and is available to
download at http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/bbs/Resources/Downloads.htm .

With best wishes

Jonathan Sleath
BBS website manager
jonathan.sleath@btinternet.com

Antifungal substance - Benlate

Subject: RE: BRYONET: Antifungal substance
Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 11:18:21 -0500
From: Valerie Pence <valerie.pence@cincinnatizoo.org>
To: 'bryonet-l@mtu.edu' <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

BRYONET

We have had some success using Benlate in the medium (100mg/L). There's
alwyas a tenuous balance between sterilizing procedures/antimicrobial agents
in the medium killing the microbes and killing the tissues. I would suggest
also trying different lengths of time for the surface sterilization--again,
you need long enough to kill the microbes and short enough not to kill the
plant tissues. And, try doing a number of pieces with each treatment.
Usually, when we have something "come through" the process and establish an
in vitro culture, it's one small piece that lived while others died, or one
small piece that was clean while the others were contaminated.

Good luck.

Valerie Pence
Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife
Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden

Antifungal substance

Subject: BRYONET: Antifungal substance
Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2003 04:02:09 EET
From: M. Evrim Demir <medemir@adu.edu.tr>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

Hi,

I'm having trouble while culturing mosses in vitro. I tried several series
of surface sterilization, but there are still contaminations with fungal
agents. Can you recommend me an antifungal substance?

Thanks in advance,

Regards,

M. Evrim Demir

Bu Elektronik Posta Adnan Menderes
Universitesi Serverlari tarafindan Virus taramasindan
gecirilmistir. ADU Bilgi Islem Daire Baskanligi ( www.ravantivirus.com.tr )

culturing and adhering

Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 07:43:34 +1100
From: Rod Seppelt <Rod.Seppelt@aad.gov.au>
To: <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

BRYONET

Various methods - Lewis Anderson's coffee grinder technique, buttermilk
in the slurry, yoghurt in the slurry - have been used and discussed from
time to time on BRYONET. What the chemistry of the "milk shake"
techniques is, remains open to debate. Perhaps it just makes the
fragments adhere to the substrate, perhaps there is some chemical growth
promoter. Egg albumin has been used in microscopy to adhere wax
embedded sections to a glass slide. That was replaced with Haupt's
adhesive (a gelatin, water, glycerin, phenol mix - the phenol is a
preservative) when I was last actively making teaching slides. Whatever
the technique used, if it works, then go for it.
Sean Edwards remarked on his success with a fine mist spray. Certainly,
keeping the fragments or propagules moist initially will be of great
benefit. But, if Sean can have success with tap water in England (high
in Ca, high in all sorts of chemical elements) then perhaps a green
finger also helps!!

Prof. Rod Seppelt,
Australian Antarctic Division
Channel Highway,
Kingston, Tasmania 7050,
Australia
ph: +61 (03) 62 323 438
FAX: +61 (03) 62 323 449
email: rod.seppelt@aad.gov.au

Growing Dicranum - buttermilk and pillbugs

Subject: Re: BRYONET: Growing Dicranum
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003 15:14:40 -0500 (EST)
From: Janice M. Glime <jmglime@mtu.edu>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

Dear Bryonnetters,
Just an anecdote regarding cultivating bryophytes with egg yolks,
buttermilk, or whatever. I tried the egg two years ago, using them to
glue a large mat of pleurocarpous mosses to a group of rocks. The mosses
seemed to be doing fine for about a week. Then one day I found them full
of holes, looking like a mat of Swiss cheese. I lifted the mat and
hundreds of pillbugs fell out. I don't know if the egg enhanced the
attraction, but I suspect it did, even though I know pillbugs eat mosses.
So, beware of those buttermilk, egg, etc mixes that might attract hungry
herbivores.

Growing Dicranum from buttermilk shake

Subject: Re: BRYONET: Growing Dicranum
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003 09:34:54 -0500
From: Steve Newmaster <snewmast@uoguelph.ca>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

How about moss milk shakes? There has been some luck in blending mosses
with buttermilk and spreading this slurry on your substrate. My
references to this come from Japanese Horticulturist, but there are no
research publications on this technique. Has anyone tried this and do
you know of any methods papers on moss milkshakes? Perhaps I should try
eggnog!

Best Wishes,

Steve

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Steven G. Newmaster
Curator, Herbarium
Department of Botany
University of Guelph
Guelph, Ontario. N1G 2W1

phone: (519) 824-4120 x56002
fax: (519) 767-1991
e-mail: snewmast@uoguelph.ca
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

chlorine removed by misting?

Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2003 10:47:43 -0000
From: Sean Edwards <mzfses@mail1.mcc.ac.uk>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

Just a postscript on this, especially re. chlorine. I have a
conservatory Dicksonia that is profusely covered in a range of
healthy bryophytes (including a volunteer Heteroscyphus
combinatus, an undetermined Lophocolea, several pleurocarps and
acrocarps), with no signs of browning etc. and several species
fruiting abundantly. It is automatically misted 12 times a day x1
minute with Manchester chlorinated tap water (originally via lead
pipes but not now).

Could it be that watering by misting allows pre-evaporation of the
chlorine etc.? Or maybe these species are not so sensitive? Are
the Dicranum-type leaves sensitive because water is drawn up
them to evaporate from the tips, accumulating solutes there (high
watering plus low humidity, an unnatural situation?)?

Sean

PS there have been several similar or parallel discussions since
1996 (and no doubt before) re. problems with cultivating
bryophytes. I've just browsed through, but most only touch on tap-
water as the first thing not to use. There was a Seattle group called
Bryofarmers started up in Feb. 2000

(http://www.onelist.com/community/bryofarmers) but this no longer exists;
it was started by Stephan Butcher
(butcher@drizzle.com).

There are lots of interesting tips in the log, maybe worth extracting
to a small file, to supplement Michael Fletcher's little book?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sean R. Edwards BSc PhD,
Keeper of Botany,
The Manchester Museum, Manchester University, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
'Phone: +44 (0)161-275-2671/2; fax: +44 (0)161-275-2676
Email: sean.edwards@man.ac.uk
Website: http://www.museum.man.ac.uk/

Growing Dicranum - tap water lethal

Subject: Re: BRYONET: Growing Dicranum
Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 08:39:03 +0000
From: Ron Porley <Ron.Porley@English-Nature.Org.UK>
To: <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

BRYONET

Phil's recommendation to look at Michael Fletcher's article is your best
bet. But I would also add that in my experience tap water is lethal to
bryophytes - all my cultures, or just trying to grow something on to
mature capsules or whatever, failed miserably until I used
rainwater....then success!
Ron Porley

Growing Dicranum reference

Subject: RE: BRYONET: Growing Dicranum
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 08:48:02 -0000
From: Stanley, Philip <Phil.Stanley.04@lumiweb.com>
To: <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

BRYONET

Michael Fletcher gives a page or so about growing Dicranums in the Bulletin
of the British Bryological Society, 56: 45-46 1990.

Phil Stanley
Cambridge, UK

Gelrite instead of agar

Subject: RE: BRYONET: sterile sand?
Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2003 07:28:24 +1000
From: Rod Seppelt <Rod.Seppelt@aad.gov.au>
To: <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

BRYONET

In response to part of Lloyd Stark's reply:

Jane Birch at Kew Gardens put me onto a substitute for Agar in cultures.
At Kew she uses GELRITE (Sigma G-1910). There is another alternative:
GEL-GRO (ICN Biochemicals 150180).
Now, both are gellan gums. They are certainly more expensive than Agar.
But, as Jane found, the growth response on at least GELRITE is much
better for most of the species she has tried (but not all, I gather).

Prof. Rod Seppelt,
Australian Antarctic Division
Channel Highway,
Kingston, Tasmania 7050,
Australia
ph: +61 (03) 62 323 438
FAX: +61 (03) 62 323 449
email: rod.seppelt@aad.gov.au

sterile sand at toy store

Subject: Re: BRYONET: sterile sand?
Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2003 20:20:40 +0100
From: Nick Hodgetts <nick.hodgetts@ntlworld.com>
To: <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

BRYONET

Hi, I'm no bryologist (thats my husband) but you can buy sterile sand from
good toy shops (and Argos) it's used in childrens sand pits.

sterile sand or agar?

Subject: RE: BRYONET: sterile sand?
Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2003 13:59:05 -0500
From: Ford, Heather <HFord@danforthcenter.org>
To: 'bryonet-l@mtu.edu' <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

BRYONET

Hi,

Just a thought...but if you are interested in nutrient deficiencies why not
grow plants axenically on agar? This way you will be able to create a more
contolled nutient environment for your experiements and you won't have to
worry about contamination. A water-based agar would work because there are
no nutrients added, i.e. Phytogel. The only problem is you will need
access to growth chambers. Another possibility is to grow the plants in an
inert substance like perlite, vermiculite. You could grow the plants
hydrponically and provide your nutrients in sterilized distilled water.
Someone out there may have further suggestions/ideas. I would take a look
at papers describing nutrient deficiency expeiments in vascular plants and
see what they do. Hope this helps!

Good Luck!

Heather

Heather Gerhard
Plant Cell Microscopist
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Integrated Microscopy Facility
975 Warson Rd.
St. Louis, MO 63132
P: 314.587.1263
F: 314.587.1361
email: hford@danforthcenter.org
www.danforthcenter.org

> ----------
> From: kmwerner@mtu.edu
> Reply To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu
> Sent: Thursday, July 3, 2003 11:59 AM
> To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu
> Subject: BRYONET: sterile sand?
>
> BRYONET
>
> Hello,
> My name is Karla Werner. I am currently working on my masters in bryology
> and am going to be studying the effects of nutrient deficiencies in
> Fissidens. In order to do so, I need to grow the moss on a medium that
> has no nutrients. If you have a suggestion or know where I can buy
> sterile sand, please let me know.
> Thank you.
>

sterile sand- keeping it sterile

Subject: Re: BRYONET: sterile sand?
Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2003 11:28:08 -0700
From: Curt Seeliger <seeliger.curt@epa.gov>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

Karla,

You might want to track down a mycorrhiza researcher as they often have
the same concerns as you do.

Sand sterilization isn't that difficult if you have an autoclave, but
keeping it sterile will be problematic. If that's important, you might
want to include a few containers with no Fissidens, but which were
otherwise treated identically, to gauge how likely the moss cultures are
axenic.

Since you're interested in nutrients as well, you'll want to wash the sand
with some sort of acid to eluviate nutrients. My plant path. prof.
fairly giggled about this practice, as the acid releases nutrients from
the sand surface, leaving you with measurable quantities of available
minerals.

cur

> >Hello,
> >My name is Karla Werner. I am currently working on my masters in
> > bryology and am going to be studying the effects of nutrient
> > deficiencies in Fissidens. In order to do so, I need to grow the moss
> > on a medium that has no nutrients. If you have a suggestion or know
> > where I can buy sterile sand, please let me know.
> >Thank you.

--
Curt Seeliger, Data Ranger
CSC, EPA/WED contractor
541/754-4638
seeliger.curt@epa.gov

mosses for surfaces - sculpture

Subject: Re: mosses for surfaces
Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2003 13:51:06 -0500 (EST)
From: Janice M. Glime <jmglime@mtu.edu>
To: Robert Grafschafter <grafschafter@hotmail.com>

BRYONET

Dear Robert and bryonetters,
I am copying this to the list because similar questions arise frequently
on bryonet, but this one has a different spin on it. Robert's interest in
moss culture is at the end of my response.
I think your topic is quite feasible, although a bit slow. Mosses
naturally colonize statues, buildings, and gravestones. Coaxing them to
do it in our time frames is a bit more tricky. There are two books on
growing mosses that may be of help to you. Each briefly describes growing
moss on rock, and the Schenk book has a photo of moss on a rock formation
in a dish garden, much like it would be on a statue.

Fletcher, M. 1991. Moss Grower's Handbook. Seventy Press, 70 South
St. Reading, Berkshire. RG1 4Ra United Kingdom. (small paperback once
available from the BBS)

Schenk, G. 1997. Moss Gardening Including Lichens, Liverworts, and
Other Miniatures. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon. Hardback; $34.95.

The most tricky thing you may have to deal with is that most mosses are
intolerant of alkalinity, especially things like concrete. If your
sculpting material is of this nature, you will have to choose your mosses
carefully and use those that normally grow on limestone or other alkaline
areas.

On Sat, 25 Jan 2003, Robert Grafschafter wrote:

>
> Dear Janice,
>
> Thank you for responding me. To be more specific you've to know
> that I´m not only studying ecology at the University of Vienna, I´m also
> studying sculpture (in the masterclass of Bruno Gironcoli).
>
> In my "biological" education I´ve always tried to find my own way, in the
> sense of finding the right topic responding to my skills. And time has
> shown that it would be a creativ topic.
>
> With the possibility of studying sculpture I´ve now the option to combine
> the two studies. To combine ecology, with breeding of mosses, in order
> to "plant" them on objects.
>
> Now I´m searching for serious literature, because still I have to
> convince my professor.
>
> With all the best wishes from Vienna,
>
> Robert

growing moss - steam-sterilized sand

Subject: Re: growing moss
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 12:11:51 +1000
From: Alison Downing <adowning@rna.bio.mq.edu.au>
To: <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

BRYONET

Dear Marika,

Some years ago, we very successfully cultivated mosses from a range of
substrates, by collecting surface soil (only to about 5 mm deep) and allowing
propagules present in the soils to colonise the soil surface. We filled pots
with steam-sterilized sand (to get rid of any propagules present in the sand). A
shallow layer of collected soil was placed over the top of the steam sterilized
sand. The pots were placed in a glasshouse and were watered with distilled
water, and covered with glass to minimize any possible contamination from
airborne propagules. From some soils, particularly those from limestone sites,
we had complete cover of the pots within 8 weeks, with many of the species
identifiable by that time. It was particularly useful exercise, as there were
some ephemeral species which we had failed to collect in the field (drought at
the time) which we were able to cultivate.
It is a very simple, although somewhat time consuming technique, but I think
this may be a useful technique for cultivating bryophytes from your mine site
soils. The glasshouses used did not have any shading, and we did not find it
necessary, possibly because many of our sites were exposed to full sun for much
of the day anyway.

Good luck with your cultivation!
Alison

Alison Downing
Curator
Macquarie University Herbarium
Department of Biological Sciences
Macquarie University NSW 2109
Australia
Telephone: 02 9850 8197
Fax: 02 9850 8245
Email: adowning@rna.bio.mq.edu.au

growing moss - purpose?

Subject: RE: growing moss
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2002 06:51:23 +1000
From: Rod Seppelt <Rod.Seppelt@aad.gov.au>
To: <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

In reply to Marika,
I guess it depends a bit on what you want to grow it for.
If the species is growing on old mine sites, it is presumably tolerant
of higher metal concentrations in its substrate. Such mosses are, most
likely, quite capable of growing on sunbstrates with much lower
concentrations of metals.
If you want to grow it with not much in mind, you could transplant it
with its native soil to the green house or wherever. Rather than low
light, perhaps, you could/should try to emulate the normal light
regime. If the light levels are too low, expet etiolation of the
plants. If you keep it too moist, expect algae and cyanobacteria to thrive.
If you were trying to assess the growth potential or tolerance of the
particular species to metals, you could try a range of substrates - both
natural and artificial.
AGAR is a traditional substrate for artificial culture but at least at
Kew Gardens in England (Jane Birch is their Bryophyte Conservation
Officer and a member of BRYONET) GELRITE is the preferred substrate.
The growth of species on GELRITE is apparently better than AGAR (Jane
will soon, hopefully, have her studies published!!!).
Anyway, with an "inert" substrate you can alter the metal concentration.
You could try Perlite or Vermiculite (but there may be mineral uptake
from the substrate), sterile sand, sterile peat, ceramic (non-glazed)
flower pots, etc., etc.
Again, it all depends what you want to use the cultivated moss for.
On an artificial substrate you can vary the pH of the medium - but this
will change over time.
The moss you have been looking at may or may not be at its "optimal"
growth conditions where it is found. It may be that the species
tolerate the low pH and high metal concentrations rather than having
this as a requirement.
Best wishes,
Rod Seppelt.

growing moss from mine waste

Subject: growing moss
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 14:16:26 -0600
From: Henderson, Marika E <MEHenderson@mtech.edu>
To: 'bryonet-l@mtu.edu' <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

BRYONET

I'm a graduate student and I need to grow moss which was collected from an
abandoned mine site. The soil from the site where it was growing has a
pretty low pH (3.5 or below) and is fairly contaminated with metals. Would
it be best to grow the moss in its native soil in diffuse light? I've read
quite a bit, but was just wondering if anyone had good ideas.
Thanks,
Marika

transplant Marchantia and heavy metals

Subject: RE: transplant and soil analysis
Date: Thu, 2 May 2002 19:29:07 +1000
From: Rod Seppelt <Rod.Seppelt@aad.gov.au>
Reply-To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu
To: <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

BRYONET

In reply to Shalini Sharma,
If heavy metals are being precipitated from rain or from atmospheric fallout,
they would be taken up by the soil as much as they would by a plant. It is
possible that the plants may absorb additional elemental material from the soil.
I would ask the question: Why do you need to use a moss growing on soil?
If you are interested in recording heavy metals from rain, you could use
something inert as a catchment device - e.g., a tissue paper (or better still,
fibre glass wool); a rain gauge. In the case of the former, heavy metals can be
washed fom the substrate and analysed; in the case of the latter, direct
analysis of the water can be performed.
If you want to use an organic substrate, you could use a large moss such as, for
example, Hypnum cupressiforme, suspended in a bag. You could subsequently
perform analysis of the rinse water to ascertain how much of the metals, etc.,
remains on the surface and then, by digestion, analyse for heavy metals, etc.,
in the moss.
I would try and minimise potential variables. Soil is a bit of an unknown
quantity, not just because of the elements it contains but because of its
inherent characteristics - cation exchange capacity, microbial activity, etc.
You could do a literature search of bryophytes and heavy metal pollution and see
what you come up with. There is a lot published on the influence and analysis
of heavy metals and other pollutants in bryophytes and other plants.
Regards,
Rod Seppelt.

Prof. Rod Seppelt
Australian Antarctic Division,
Channel Highway, Kingston,
Tasmania 7050, Australia
Ph: +61 (03) 62 253 445
email: rod.seppelt@aad.gov.au

transplant Marchantia and soil analysis

Subject: transplant and soil analysis
Date: Wed, 01 May 2002 17:06:11 +0530
From: nidhi sharma <taureanandyou@hotmail.com>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

BRYONETTERS,
I want to transplant Marchantia polymorpha a thalloid liverwort and a moss
Anomobryum filiforme to asses the heavy metals because of air pollution .I
want to know whether I have to do the soil analysis also if these plants are
growing on soil, if yes, then what all parameters I should take for
analysis.

Thanking you
Shalini Sharma
National Botanical Research Institute
Lucknow-226001
INDIA
E.Mail:taureanandyou@hotmail.com

culture - chlorinated water

Subject: Re: bryonet-mains water query
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 15:24:00 +0100
From: Simon Laegaard <simon.laegaard@biology.au.dk>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

Dear Jenny,

Do you have chlorinated water in your mains ????

All best Simon

--
************************************
Simon Lægaard
Herb. AAU, Build. 137
Aarhus University
DK-8000 Aarhus C
DENMARK
Tlf. +45 8942 2752 fax. +45 8613 9326
************************************

culture - water quality & calcium

Subject: Re: bryonet-mains water query
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 14:43:17 +0100
From: David Rycroft <davidry@chem.gla.ac.uk>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

Jenny,
Calcium may be more of a problem. I don't know how Manchester treats its
water, but calcium and chlorine can be added to water in the form of
calcium hypochlorite (try a Google search for water treatment calcium
hypochlorite). The water in Haweswater (if that is still the source) is
probably soft, but what comes out of the tap may not be.
David.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr David S. Rycroft
NMR Spectroscopy Laboratory, Department of Chemistry,
Joseph Black Building, University of Glasgow,
Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland, UK.
Tel: +44-(0)141-330 4479 Fax: +44-(0)141-330 4888
Email: D.Rycroft@chem.gla.ac.uk
WWW: http://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/staff/davidry/index.html

culture - water quality

Subject: Re: bryonet-mains water query
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 14:00:43 BST
From: Sean Edwards <mzfses@mail1.mcc.ac.uk>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

Jenny,

I have a misting system at home, for a Dicksonia antarctica. It
mists 12x1minute/day, tap water (soft Manchester) as it comes,
and it yields a fine crop of odd volunteer bryophytes including
Heteroscyphus combinatus and an unidentifiable Lophocolea not
too far from L. semiteres that fruits well -- but maybe these are
more tolerant of chlorine or whatever than other species. Quite a bit
of the chlorine is possibly lost in the misting, though not things like
heavy metals? Fluoride should make the peristome teeth strong. I
use almost no nutrient additions, occasionally by hand-spraying.

Think of the mossy borders that thrive under regular garden
sprinklers, though again these may be more tolerant species.

Sean

culture with egg yolk

Subject: Re: How to grow mosses?
Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2001 22:15:24 -0400 (EDT)
From: Janice M. Glime <jmglime@mtu.edu>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

I used egg yolk rather than buttermilk and found that a large mass of
moss looked like Swiss cheese about one week after I had draped it over
the rock. The moss had been looking wonderful, but suddenly was stripped
and had 7-8 cm holes in the mat. When I picked it up to see what was
going on, hundreds of isopods fell from the mat (presumably Porcellio
scaber). These fellows are night-active and could well be the problem in
the buttermilk plantings.
Janice
***********************************
Janice M. Glime, Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, MI 49931-1295
jmglime@mtu.edu
906-487-2546
FAX 906-487-3167
***********************************

culture with buttermilk

Subject: Re: How to grow mosses?
Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2001 09:52:48 +1100
From: David Hanson <HANSON@rsbs.anu.edu.au>
To: <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

BRYONET

Just a quick comment about buttermilk.

I tried adding this to some ground up Polytrichum that I wanted to grow in an
artificial bog environment in a greenhouse. Much to my surprise, within a day
or two all of the places that I had spread my buttermilk-Polytrichum cultures
were devoid of any moss or buttermilk. My only conclusion was that mice (or
something) in the greenhouse was hungry and liked buttermilk. So if you try
this, put a cage around your plots.

-Dave Hanson

Monday, August 11, 2008

encouraging mosses

Hi Bob

I saw your request for info on promoting moss spread via a series of emails.
I have been involved in trials using native moss species to speed
revegetation of 900 ha of mine overburden at Grasberg (4000m), Irian Jaya,
and now at a site here in New Zealand.
Our most successful treatments (in a climate lab and now in the field) used
moss fragments, partially dried then spread onto the surface. As the surface
is totally devoid of soil, the best results have been with additions of
organic fertiliser and/or some form of artificial cover to reduce moisture
loss in the early stages of moss establishment.
Please let me know if I can be of more help. I would be interested in any
other techniques that you have heard of.

Regards
Rowan Buxton
Plant Ecologist
Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd
PO Box 69
Lincoln, Canterbury
New Zealand
Ph: +64 3 325 6701 ext 3788
Fax: +64 3 325 2418
Email: buxtonr@landcare.cri.nz

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Bob, Try this site, it's quite informative:
http://www.dbc.uci.edu/~pjbryant/biodiv/LichenPaper.html
I've heard that blending some mosses and lichens into a "slurry" and
spraying them onto the appropriate location works well. Needs the right
species for the right location and the right timing. Also there are the
usual ethical problems of disturbing intact healthy communities, etc.
Please keep me informed of your success or otherwise. I'm interested in
restoration of our southern Vancouver Is. moss balds. Mining reclamation
sometimes deal with this, you might try some of their publications. Good
luck, Moralea

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob, I've never hear about buttermilk for moss, but an old fellow I met
recently was extolling the virtues of Guiness beer for growing virtually
anything! I never asked, but hopefully this was only the product of
drinking Guiness! Michael Keefer

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi again Bob,

Have you talked to Lynne Atwood? She did a grind-and-hydroseed (except I
guess there weren't really seeds involved) microbiotic crust restoration on
a pipeline project in the Okanagan. Her email is latwood@bulkley.net

See ya,
Marilyn

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have not tryed it [buttermilk] myself but have been told that it works by
someone who
had experimented with it. Apparently the trick is to let the milk go sour
first. Dorothy

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
We have done a lot of transplants of lichen tissues and mosses as well for
air pollution studies and ungulate winter range reclamation work (since
1979). We have a large file of journal papers on the topic. I have never
seen anyone use buttermilk. I used to use a dilute knox's gelatin for
arboreal transplants onto branches of Alectoria sarmentosa, but dont bother
with that now if I use a powerful refit leafblower that seems to work. For
terrestrial lichens and mosses I just screef the soil and press the
transplant in. It is best to have them on a slight angle against the side of
a fallen tree or a rock. Usually fall time works well because the added
moisture and cool temperatures give the plants a chance to recover and start
rhyzine etc. development. We have found transplants to be exceptionally
successful, even in polluted but recovering environments.

kat enns
Larkspur Biological Consultants Ltd
Castlegar, BC
250-304-2025

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I looked into a 'mossing' project about three years ago on the
internet. The most credible recommendation was from someone in
Maine who said he had done a large area under deciduous trees that
had been very mossy before construction disturbances. He acidified
the ground using sulphur compounds, then transplanted during the
damp spring.
As iron sulphate is the choice for moss removal in lawns, it may be
that another compound was used. I don't recall that detail.

He also found that protecting his new mosses from invasion by local
grasses was very time-consuming. That killed the idea for me and we
used shrubs instead.

I think it might be valuable to compare the pH of the soil at the
sourcing with the pH value in the planting area to see if adjustment is
desirable.

Hope this is helpful.
Dennis
Dennis_Goos@mindlink.net

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Kat's reply to Dennis]
You are right about pH, but exposure is just as important. Trying to match
the character of the source site to the transplant site is critical, and
grass invasion is always a problem. It was in the Chilcotin as well. I was
always nervous about the effect I was having on the source site, and have
been back to some of them. They seem to have grown in with a mix of plants
including some of the original lichens and mosses.

kat

[Fwd: RE: Moss garden]

> From: The Elephant Walk
> Sent: Friday, July 20, 2001 6:07 AM
> To: bryonet
> Subject: Moss garden
>
> First I must confess that I am not scientifically or academicly involved
> with bryophytes but rather I am working on developing a moss garden . We
> have a Bed and Breakfast (Elephantwalkbandb.com) in Stillwater, MN with a
> nice shady garden area. I have established a mist system to assure a moist
> environment. I have ordered a few books- HOW TO KNOW THE MOSSES AND
> LIVERWORTS.
> PICTURED-KEYS FOR DETERMINING MANY OF THE NORTH AMERICAN MOSSES AND
> LIVERWORTS but am ancious to keep going. Does anyone have any thoughts on
> this ,i.e. amount of mist(frequency) and how to feed these guys once they
> are in place. Also any realitively none technical reading suggested would
> be appreciated.
>
> If this is deemed to disrupt the bryonet's users please advise ana I will
> not post but will read with interest to increase my knowledge.
> Thanks
> Mike Robinson mike@elephantwalkbb.com
>

-------------------------------
Subject: RE: Moss garden
Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 11:27:32 -0400
From: KONING,ROSS E. (Biology) <KONING@easternct.edu>
To: 'bryonet-l@mtu.edu' <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

BRYONET

Hi Mike,

You have asked a question that I'm afraid I cannot
answer with any credibility...but there is a book with
some excellent inspiration for a moss garden called
"Moss Gardening" by George Schenk (Timber Press
ISBN 0-88192-370-2) that might be interesting for you.
I don't think it gives as much nuts and bolts advice that
would answer your question, but I think you would
enjoy reading through it and seeing some photos of
moss (liverwort, lichen, and "mossy" plants) gardens.

It is clear to me that you would NOT need a lot of mist
for many mosses, but certainly some would thrive in
such a mist. For fertilization, again some mosses like
a rich environment but most (in my limited experience)
will be wiped out by nutrient levels that would be used in a
common vegetable garden. So watch out for doing too
much fertilizer.

Here in New England, people try to get away from moss
in their lawns and are usually quizzing me along those
lines. The prescription for that is: neutralize the acid pH
with lime and then provide adequate levels of nitrogen
for grass. This is a one-two punch that knocks out the
mosses that grow here.

So again, don't do too much fertilization and you may want
the pH of your mist to be about 5.5 perhaps.

ross

Professor Ross E. Koning, PhD
Chapter President ECSU-AAUP
Biology Department - Goddard Hall
Eastern Connecticut State University
Willimantic, Connecticut 06226 USA

Phone: (860)-465-5327
FAX: (860)-465-5213
Pager: (860)-744-2705
email: koning@easternct.edu
http://koning.ecsu.ctstateu.edu/

---------------------------------------

How to grow mosses?

Subject: Re: How to grow mosses?
Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2001 12:20:06 -0400 (EDT)
From: Janice M. Glime <jmglime@mtu.edu>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

Adolf and Bryonetters,
There are many recipes for planting mosses. The best I have found is a
suggestion that came partly from Jon Shaw. Try not to disturb the
rhizoids - bring enough soil to keep them intact. Place the moss on soil
surface that you have loosened and push the moss firmly into the loose
soil. Then attach the moss firmly with several toothpicks angled toward
the center to keep the moss from humping up in the middle as it
dries. The contact with soil is important to reduce drying from beneath.
The cheesecloth method is useful for spreading tiny fragments, holding
them in place, and permitting them to grow over rock surfaces. The
fragments can be cut up in a blender or dry mosses can be crumbled by
hand, then planted over the cloth like grass seed. Once planted, the
cloth must be kept damp. This cloth can even be transplanted - grown in
mass in a convenient place and then draped over rock when it develops
young plants. I have not tried this method so I can't attest to its
reliabililty.
My greatest transplant successes have been with Fissidens. This summer
I have successfully transplanted Leucobryum glaucum, Brachythecium
(probably salebrosum or rutabulum), Polytrichum juniperinum, Fissidens,
and Barbula. We have had an ideal year for the mosses - lots of evening
and night time rain and sunny days. The mosses are in partial shade.
I have a file of past moss cultivation discussions for anyone who wants
them.
Janice
***********************************
Janice M. Glime, Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, MI 49931-1295
jmglime@mtu.edu
906-487-2546
FAX 906-487-3167
***********************************

culturing bryophytes in controlled conditions

Subject: culturing bryophytes in controlled conditions
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2001 13:02:41 +0000 (GMT Standard Time)
From: Keeley Louise Bignal <K.L.Bignal@Bradford.ac.uk>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

Dear All

I am a research student investigating the impact of
vehicular emmissions on lichens and bryophytes.

I am exposing a no. of species to diesel exhaust fumes in
solar domes and screening for sensitivity (the levels are
typical roadside concentrations). The moss material
consists of individual shoots from 2.5 cm in length to 70
cm, depending on the species. I hope to measure growth
(hence the individual shoots).

Polytrichum commune is in glass jars half filled with
water. Dicranum scoparium, D. majus and Mnium hornum are
packed into small transparent beakers filled with sand with
capillary matting extending to a reservoir of water. After
6 weeks exposure, all of the aforementioned species look
quite healthy despite some browning of the uppermost
leaves. Material in the controls also shows signs of damage
which is probably do to dessication.

The following species are the ones I am having the most
trouble with: Plagiothecium undulatum, Brachythecium
rutabulum, Rhytidiaedelpus squarrosus, Eurynchium
praelongum, Hylocomium splendens and Hypnum cupressiforme
are laid out as individual shoots on sand in pots. The
material in the controls is not healthy, with bleaching and
loss of pigment. However, the material in the pollution
domes has died/turned brown.

The plants are watered 3x week with artificial rainwater
solution. They cannot be watered more often as the domes
are 200 miles from where I study so I have to rely on other
people to water them.

Obviously I am having problems with the material drying
out and the plants are not coping as well with dessication
in the pollution domes. I need the material to survive for
longer than 6 weeks so that I can take some growth
measurements. I was wondering if any of you have any tips
on stopping the bryophytes from drying out and how to
maintain them. Does anyone have experience of exposing small
sections of material to air pollutants in controlled
conditions.

I would be very grateful for any comments/ideas on how to
proceed.

Regards,

Keeley Bignal
K.L.Bignal@bradford.ac.uk

------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: culturing bryophytes in controlled conditions
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2001 11:30:19 -0800
From: davidhwagner <davidhwagner@home.com>
To: <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

BRYONET

It is my experience that cultivation of most bryophytes under glass faces
the difficult problem of maintaining high humidity and AT THE SAME TIME
adequate air flow. One without the other is a source of problems. It is
not hard to get high humidity, but adequate air flow is then a challenge.
and vice versa. On top of this, most bryophytes like to have water flow
that rivals air flow. Still water is as inhibiting as still air. Dead air
+ dead water = dead plants.

David H. Wagner
davidHwagner@home.com
Northwest Botanical Institute
P.O. Box 30064
Eugene OR 97403-1064
U.S.A.

---------------------------

Subject: Re: culturing bryophytes in controlled conditions
Date: Fri, 02 Feb 2001 15:26:34 +0100
From: H.J.During <H.J.During@bio.uu.nl>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

Dear Keeley,
Are these solar domes translucent & closed? in that case, your plants might
simply get too hot, and you might think of the old solution for greenhouses
in summer - spray some calcium carbonate solution over the dome to make it
less translucent and reflect some of the incoming light. This may help to
prevent temperatures getting too high and will reduce evaporation rates of
the plants.
It is difficult to say from a distance whether nutrient shortage may partly
cause the bleaching, but you might consider to occasionally spray a dilute
nutrient solution over the pleurocarps and see whether that improves their
appearance.
Good luck!
Heinjo During
H.J. During
Department of Plant Ecology
F.A.F.C. Went Building, P.O. Box 800.84
NL-3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands
Tel. +31 30 2536847
Fax +31 30 2518366
e-mail h.j.during@bio.uu.nl

-----------------------------

culture: collect or field ID

Subject: Re: collect or field ID
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 11:24:15 -0000
From: Rod Seppelt <r.seppelt@rbgkew.org.uk>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

In reply to Wayne Tyson:
While not specifically bryophytes, you might try and get in touch
with Roger Rosentreter in Boise, Idaho. He is a lichenologist with
a keen interest in crusts and all things lichenological.
The last email I had for him was:
rrosentr@id1546wp.idso.id.blm.gov
You might also try and contact Prof. Tom Nash, Arizona State
University, Tempe. He, also, is a lichenologist with a lot of
experience of dry lands crusts and other lichens.

Actually, I don't see what the "coffee ginder" technique that Lewis
Anderson introduced me to for macerating and "culturing"
bryophytes should not work for crusts. Instead of using a coffee
grinder, try a cement mixer!! Seriously, it probably would not
matter if the crust was broken up. The Cyanobacteria, bryophyte
propagulae and pieces of lichen crust will still be present and, if
kept moist (probably a nightly dew would suffice), a little time will
remedy the situation.
Regards
Rod Seppelt

Prof. Rod Seppelt
(ABLO), Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB

moss culture

Subject: Re: moss culture
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2000 09:48:31 +0100
From: "Sigurd M. Såstad" <sigurd.sastad@vm.ntnu.no>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

Dear bryonetters

Some additional points on moss cultures

Contamination
We have been sucessfully propagating Sphagnum-clones from gametophore
fragments (branch fragments) in agar cultures for use in transplant
experiments. Our major problem has been contamination (bacterial and
fungal), and two measures have been taken to avoid this: 1) we surface
sterilise material in a a 10% chlorine solution, using the 'washing
machine' described by Basile and Basile (1988), this seems to be efficient
removing contaminants which may be stuck in between the densely packed
branch leaves. Our material generally has had no problem surviving a one
minute treatment (with three subsequent washes in destilled water) 2) we
don't use any additions of carbone to the medium. The latter measure has
reduced our loss of cultures from over 80% to below 20%. Admittedly the
cultures will grow slower with no added carbone, but so will indeed the
contaminants. Frequent reinoculation of cultures gives acceptable growth,
so that we are able to produce material suitable for transplantation to
field conditions in 5-6 months. Our experience is that the contamination
always comes from the Sphagnum itself, thus we are less strict on
autocleaving media etc. and work under sterile conditions.

Spores vs. vegetative fragments
Initiation of cultures from spores is much easier with regard to
sterilisation, however, for many purposes this may be impractical or even
impossible as one is depending on the ability of the bryophyte in question
to produce sporophytes and spores. As Sphagnum often show spatial and
temporal variation in the patterns of sporulation, such patterns limit the
use of spores in designs where spatial and/or temporal data are required.
Thus, as material for clonal propagation, we have found vegetative parts of
the gametophore offer the greatest flexibility with respect to our research
purposes.

Some useful references:
Anderson, L. E., Basile, M. R. and Basile, D. V. 1992. Common garden
experiments with Sphagnum in axenic culture. - J. Bryol. 17: 15-25.
Basile, D.V. and Basile, M. R. 1988. Procedures used for the axenic culture
and experimental treatment of bryophytes. - In: Glime, J. M. (ed.), Methods
in Bryology. Hattori Botanical laboratory, Nichinan, pp. 1-16.
Såstad SM, Bakken S, Pedersen B. 1998. Propagation of Sphagnum in axenic
culture - a method for obtaining large numbers of cloned gametophores.
Lindbergia 23: 65-73.

Cheers
Sigurd

Sigurd M. Såstad
Dept. of Natural History, NTNU
N-7491 Trondheim, Norway
tel +47-73592251, fax +47-73592249, www.ntnu.no/~vmbossaa

moss culture

Subject: Re: moss culture (fwd)
Date: Thu, 09 Nov 2000 23:57:52 -0800
From: Wayne Tyson <landrest@utm.net>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu, bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

>In reply to Janice.
>Thanks for the additional info concerning what you have in culture.
>Bugs, algae, cyanobacteria (perhaps not quite so problematic) and
>fungi (perhaps the worst of all) are all hazards to be faced. In bulk
>culture in a "free" place (i.e., in the open or in a terrarium), these
>can be a problem (Janice has mentioned in particular the bugs).
>In culture on a solid medium (Agar or other alternative medium

[[Would you cite some examples, with pros and cons and relationships to
substrates--and substrate requirements as well as limiting factors in
natural substrates?]]

>bugs are not so much of a problem as fungi, algae and
>cyanobacteria - in that order.

[[While inconvenient and time-consuming, might there be hope for an
"ecological mimicry" procedure whereby fungal, algal, and cyanobacterial
"succession" phenomena could be accelerated and/or conditions favorable to
bryophytes established short of sterilization? Particularly for
conservation purposes?]]

>One species Janice and Peg have in culture interested me:
>Lunularia cruciata. Perhaps this primarily southern hemisphere
>taxon is a northern novelty. But, in the wild, it is a particularly
>robust bryophyte. If it is found in wet shaded habitats it produces
>almost entirely gemmae. In sites that are more exposed and drier
>and subject to periods of desiccation, it produced both gemmae
>(when the conditions are wettest - e.g., autumn and winter) and at
>the end of Spring, it forms sporophytes - but these develop only to
>a "bud" stage i.e., the small white cones near the thallus apex.
>These sporophytes (complete with elaters and spores, I might add)
>remain in a state of suspended animation until the following autumn
>rains, when there will be a burst of growth and maturation with
>spore release. In summer, the plants become "cooked" on the soil
>surface, and large areas of a thallus (but not the part with the
>sporophyte) may die. A good example of a bryophyte finely tuned
>to its habitat.

[[What is known about the conditions of habitat that favor and limit
bryophyte growth in "the wild," for example the species mentioned?]]
>
>On the subject of cultures: I have just been to have a look at what
>Jane Burch (Micropropagation Unit at Kew Gardens, London) is
>doing with her experimental studies on culturing bryophytes with
>particular regard to the ex situ conservation of rare or endangered
>species. Axenic culture is not necessarily an easy thing to
>achieve.

[[What are the primary factors limiting success? Do fungi confer any
benefits, particularly with respect to natural [micro-]site modification,
such as physical and/or chemical alteration of site conditions? In my
limited and terribly ignorant observations, there appears to be a
"succession" process with bryophytes at the "climax." Could fungal, algal,
cyanobacterial and other metabolites and breakdown products be producing a
film-like substrate analogous to algin in the lab? What about other
bacteria, such as free-living N-fixers? Would anyone be interested in
looking at field samples? Do I presume correctly that someone is looking
(or already has looked at) such ecological phenomena?]]

>I was impressed by what can be done with a little experimentation
>(and, obviously time and care). Perhaps, Jane, the basics of your
>methodology could be shared on the net.
>
>Perhaps, some general questions for discussion:
>For those who have experience in axenic culture of bryophytes,
>what method is being used to surface sterilise the material?
>How effective is the technique in (i) providing surface sterility and
>(ii) not killing or damaging the bryophyte tissue.
>Perhaps, also, for propagationists who wish to share their
>techniques, may be the culture medium and nutrient sources.
>
>Public opinion would seem to dictate that it is only showy vascular
>plants that get much attention with regard to conservation.
>However, one intersting feature of Jane's work at Kew is the culture
>of a relatively recently described species of the moss Ditrichum -
>the type locality of which no longer exists!!

[[In 1969 I suggested that a local area be preserved in lieu of planting a
Bermuda-grass lawn in a large park and was promptly branded as one of
suspect character, political and sexual affiliations. Needless to say, I
needled them evermore...]]
>
>Regards
>Rod Seppelt
>Prof. Rod Seppelt
>(ABLO), Herbarium
>Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
>Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB

moss culture

Subject: Re: moss culture (fwd)
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2000 14:22:16 -0500 (EST)
From: Margaret A. Minahan <maminaha@mtu.edu>

BRYONET

Just a comment in response to Rod's question. Most of the mosses that I've tried
were indeed much smaller than ten inches. Actually, the smaller the colony, the
better they seem to do. I imagine this might be due to better substrate
adherence or that they just acclimate better to the change in conditions than
older mosses. The reference to ten iches was just that I have been able to
establish clumps that big. Any larger just seems to bring more problems.

Peg

liverwort culture

Subject: Re: liverwort culture
Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2000 09:38:36 -0500
From: Linda Fuselier <lcfuse0@pop.uky.edu>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

Bryonetter comments on moss culture have been interesting and
useful! I'm culturing Marchantia inflexa for greenhouse experiments
(with Nicholas McLetchie at University of Kentucky) and was
wondering if those of you also culturing liverworts have any
suggestions about how to control algae in greenhouse pots??

Additionally, has anyone else noticed (with respect to Rod
Seppelt's comment) environmental variables that might influence
whether or not liverworts express sex? We are finding that shade
definitely influences whether individuals will produce only gemmae
or both gemma and sporophytes.

Linda Fuselier
University of Kentucky
Office of Biological Sciences
101 Morgan Building
Lexington, KY 40506-0225

[Fwd: moss culture]

From: "" <jgoode@novartisfound.org.uk>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu
Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2000 09:16:29 -0000

BRYONET

Sorry, I haven't been following the discussion, so this may have
already been said, but while carrying out a PhD on protonema, I
experimented with trying to get a number of species into axenic
culture.

First off was Tetraphis pellucida, which was easy to culture
axenically from the gemmae. I washed these onto a filter paper
disc using 5% hypochlorite with a little wetting agent, and then
fished them off onto agar using a tungsten needle under a binocular.

Other genera were also successfully cultured from gemmae in this
way, including Aulocomnium and Ullota.

However, the easiest and most reliable way of culturing bryophytes
is from using spores. Disinfect intact spore capsules and crush
them into sterile distilled water, and then inoculate the agar plates.
Bingo!

Although vegetative material regenerates readily, I was
unsuccessful in getting sterile cultures from other bits of mosses.

With best regards

Jamie Goode PhD
Editor
Novartis Foundation
41 Portland Place
W1B 1BN
Phone: 0207 636 9456
Fax: 0207 436 2840
Homepage
http://www.novartisfound.org.uk/

moss culture

Subject: Re: moss culture (fwd)
Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2000 08:04:39 -0000
From: Rod Seppelt <r.seppelt@rbgkew.org.uk>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

In reply to Janice.
Thanks for the additional info concerning what you have in culture.
Bugs, algae, cyanobacteria (perhaps not quite so problematic) and
fungi (perhaps the worst of all) are all hazards to be faced. In bulk
culture in a "free" place (i.e., in the open or in a terrarium), these
can be a problem (Janice has mentioned in particular the bugs).
In culture on a solid medium (Agar or other alternative medium) the
bugs are not so much of a problem as fungi, algae and
cyanobacteria - in that order.
One species Janice and Peg have in culture interested me:
Lunularia cruciata. Perhaps this primarily southern hemisphere
taxon is a northern novelty. But, in the wild, it is a particularly
robust bryophyte. If it is found in wet shaded habitats it produces
almost entirely gemmae. In sites that are more exposed and drier
and subject to periods of desiccation, it produced both gemmae
(when the conditions are wettest - e.g., autumn and winter) and at
the end of Spring, it forms sporophytes - but these develop only to
a "bud" stage i.e., the small white cones near the thallus apex.
These sporophytes (complete with elaters and spores, I might add)
remain in a state of suspended animation until the following autumn
rains, when there will be a burst of growth and maturation with
spore release. In summer, the plants become "cooked" on the soil
surface, and large areas of a thallus (but not the part with the
sporophyte) may die. A good example of a bryophyte finely tuned
to its habitat.

On the subject of cultures: I have just been to have a look at what
Jane Burch (Micropropagation Unit at Kew Gardens, London) is
doing with her experimental studies on culturing bryophytes with
particular regard to the ex situ conservation of rare or endangered
species. Axenic culture is not necessarily an easy thing to
achieve.
I was impressed by what can be done with a little experimentation
(and, obviously time and care). Perhaps, Jane, the basics of your
methodology could be shared on the net.

Perhaps, some general questions for discussion:
For those who have experience in axenic culture of bryophytes,
what method is being used to surface sterilise the material?
How effective is the technique in (i) providing surface sterility and
(ii) not killing or damaging the bryophyte tissue.
Perhaps, also, for propagationists who wish to share their
techniques, may be the culture medium and nutrient sources.

Public opinion would seem to dictate that it is only showy vascular
plants that get much attention with regard to conservation.
However, one intersting feature of Jane's work at Kew is the culture
of a relatively recently described species of the moss Ditrichum -
the type locality of which no longer exists!!

Regards
Rod Seppelt
Prof. Rod Seppelt
(ABLO), Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB

moss culture

Subject: Re: moss culture (fwd)
Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2000 08:31:24 -0500
From: Randy Cameron <rcameron@citrus.usda.gov>
To: <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

BRYONET

I was able to grow several species of Splachnum in axenic culture on
sterilized washed sand using sterilized Bold's Basal Medium as a nutrient
source. The cultures were initiated by inoculating them with spores from
capsules that had been surface sterilized and then extruding the spores into
a drop of sterile water by rolling a sterile probe over the side of
capsule, forcing the spores into the sterile water. The spores were then
surface sterilized before transferring them to the sand. I did have an
occasional problem with fungal contamination but was able to grow most
cultures through gametangia formation. I tried a few times to flood the
cultures to release sperm and iniate sporophyte production but wasn't very
sucessful, although I really didn't put a lot of effort into that aspect.

moss culture

Subject: Re: moss culture (fwd)
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2000 13:25:01 -0500 (EST)
From: Janice M. Glime <jmglime@mtu.edu>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

Rod has asked a number of questions about my assistant's technique (Peg
Minahan in an earlier message) for growing mosses. We only have about a
dozen species in culture, and these are all large mosses and liverworts,
started from large clumps. We have not tried any epiphytes or young
colonies or coffee grinders. These include Marchantia polymorpha,
Lunularia cruciata, Conocephalum conicum, Pleurozium schreberi, Ptilium
crista-castrensis, Rhizomnium magnifolium, Leucobryum glaucum,
Polytrichum, Dicranum scoparium, Brachythecium.
I have grown Fissidens (adianthoides?) from both fragments and whole
clumps. This moss seems to be the easiest of all the mosses to establish
in culture or garden, at least among our larger mosses.
One problem in cultures - and in gardens - is pillbugs (isopods). They
devour the green tips and leave behind the brown bases. Eventually they
will eat everything and can totally clean a chunk of wood (in my case
about 1.3 m long by 15 cm, decorticated) in a few months. They devoured a
large mat of outdoor transplants as well.

moss culture

Subject: Re: moss culture (fwd)
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2000 07:23:25 -0000
From: Rod Seppelt <r.seppelt@rbgkew.org.uk>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

In reply to Peg Minahan's contribution on cultures:

Many thanks for your contribution.
From your message to Bryonet I am unclear on one point only. Do
you start with a large clump of moss (is that what the 10 inches
refers to?). What about mosses which are found in small tufts -
e.g., things like Orthotrichum that grow on trees, or Grimmias, or
even Dicranum, when it is a young colony?

I was also wondering if you have tried Lewis Anderson's coffee
grinder method i.e., macerating the moss and spraying the slurry
on the substrate.

Cheers
Rod Seppelt
Prof. Rod Seppelt
(ABLO), Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB

moss culture]

Subject: moss culture
Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2000 13:36:25 -0500 (EST)
From: Margaret A. Minahan <maminaha@mtu.edu>

Janice asked me about tips on moss culture - sorry its taken so long for me
to respond. So far this is what seems to work best for me in the greenhouse
with boreal mosses.

1.Commerical substrates (peat base) seem to cause alot of problems with
fungus.I have found using sand or natural substrate works best (natural
being prefered) and mixing with several parts washed perlite to improve
drainage. Remove sticks,large leaves and other litter, since these tend to
cause air pockets.

2.To get moss established, terraria of about 5-10 gallon with a glass top
provide a nice humid environment. Smaller containers work, but have less
air circulation and create more problems. Moisten the substrate thoroughly,
being careful not to oversaturate and place in the terrarium sloping
unevenly with lower slopes toward the sides. You can put a layer (1") of
washed perlite with a little charcoal in first for additional drainage.

3. Small matts of moss seem to establish the best, usually under 10".
Making good contact with the substrate is important, so mounding the soil
slightly under the speciman helps and pressing it in slighty. Toothpicks
(round) can be inserted through the moss every few inches to improve
contact, with care taken to not crush or distort the stems, which reduces
air circulation and invites fungus. Toothpick should be removed after 6-8
weeks.

4. I water by misting with distilled water only and keeping terrarium
covered. A light condensation on the glass is how I usually gauge the
proper moisture. Most of the mosses I've tried will tolerate some
desiccation, but are overall harder to get established if subjected to it
too frequently in the early period.

5. Bright light is best, with no direct or indirect sun which tends to burn
the specimans and greatly overheats the terrarium.

6. Most of the mosses I've grown seem to really prefer temperatures on the
cool side (40-65 degrees F.) although will tolerate warmer temps.
Overheating for long periods is usually tolerated poorly.

I hope some of this will be helpful. It's really taken a lot of trial and
error and not all species respond the same or seem to have more specific
requirements. As a general approach however, these methods have brought
some success in our greenhouse.If you have any other questions, feel free
to contact me.

Sincerely,

Peg Minahan
Department of Biological Sciences
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, Michigan 49931
(906) 487-2025.

maminaha@mtu.edu

moss culture

Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 13:54:44 -0400
From: Stuart F. McDaniel <stumcd@duke.edu>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

I have been cultivating Ceratodon spores by germinating them on agar
plates, picking off individual protonema and growing them in liquid media
before transferring them to soil, all in a growth chamber. Im still
working on the best soil mixture to use, but I would be happy to provide
more specifics.

Cheers
___________________

Stuart F. McDaniel
Biology Dept.
Box 90338
Duke University
Durham NC 27708

ph: 919/660-7370
fax: 919/660-7293
___________________

moss cultures

Subject: RE: moss cultures etc.
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 18:01:03 BST
From: DAVID LONG <D.Long@rbge.org.uk>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

Dear bryonetters
Who cares if we get slammed in the way described -at least
bryologists have a sense of humour if little else going for us!
I've posted it up before, but the article by Frahm &
Nordhorn-Richter on cultivating bryophytes I have found eminently
useful and straightforward and it worked very well for
marchantioids. See Bryol. Times 28: 3-5, 1984.
David Long
..........................................................
David G. Long
Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh EH3 5LR, Scotland, U.K.
Tel: (0044) 131 248 2861 (direct line) Fax: (0044) 131 248 2901
Email: <d.long@rbge.org.uk> RBGE Website: http://www.rbge.org.uk
..........................................................

Moss culturing

Subject: Moss culturing
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 10:03:02 -0500
From: Malcolm Sargent <malcolms@life.uiuc.edu>
To: Bryonet <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

BRYONET

As many of you know, for over twenty years I maintained an axenic
collection of 100-some bryophytes from around the world. That
collection is presently in the care of Brent Mishler at the
University of California at Berkeley. The wisdom that I was able to
accumulate about culturing is found in "A Guide to the Axenic
Culturing of a Spectrum of Bryophytes" (Methods in Bryology; Janice
Glime, Ed.; The Hattori Botanical Laboratory; pp.17-24; 1988).

In order to prevent a catastrophic loss of my collection (my lab was
gutted by fire on one occasion), I maintained a duplicate set of
cultures at home in a make-shift growth chamber - in the bedroom of
my tiny basement apartment as a matter of fact. During the courtship
of my wife of 20-some years, Ann Hope Sargent, she was exposed to the
come-on line of "wouldn't you like to see my collection of beautiful
mosses" on more than one occasion during the late 1970's.

Given the success of my courtship, and our subsequent marriage, I
feel quite comfortable in recommending the use of bryophytes in human
courtship. Sphagnum bogs - I don't think so. I suspect that such an
application is not discussed in the Uses of Bryophytes by Dinesh
Saxena, but I do intend to purchase a copy of the book to check.
Actually I'm more than interested in the book for more traditional
reasons also.

Cheers, Mac.

--
Malcolm L. Sargent
Dept. Plant Biology, Univ. Illinois
Urbana IL 61801
Ph: 217-333-0287 (Office); 217-367-9830 (Home)
Fax: 217-244-7246 (Dept).

moss cultures

Subject: RE: moss cultures
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 09:13:29 -0700
From: butcher <butcher@drizzle.com>
To: <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

BRYONET

Howdy,

I have been experimenting with growing moss in all sorts of contraptions and
conditions, with all sorts of results. The best thus far is using a covered
misting bench filled with course sand in a greenhouse. It makes one of the
most beautiful scapes I have seen. Not for all species but it does work
well. Another method I have found is using cheese cloth first soaked in
nice acidic mud and then brushing it with "chipped" pieces of moss as well
as "disturbed" spore capsules. Then I either put that in to the mist
chamber or hang it on the wall next to the mounted orchids.

At home, I use variations on these. Standard garden tray with pressed soil,
cheese cloth, and spore, then covered with plastic. I use one of these as a
moss orphanage. When I am repotting or mounting orchids, I will take the
moss growing in the pot and replant it in the orphanage.

I have found that the spore is viable for quite some time, even under not so
ideal conditions, but keeping it dry and dark obviously seems like the best
advice until you are ready to grow.

As for controlled growth of specific species, I use 2-liter bottles on their
side with a door cut from the side of the bottle for transplant later. Some
species thrive under these conditions, but the biggest problem, besides
over-watering, seems to be getting fresh air to them on occasion.

Those interested in helping others grow moss, or learning more about
cultivation, please email me for a web address devoted to moss farming. I
don't want to "advertise/spam" the bryonet!

Stephan Butcher

moss cultures

Subject: RE: moss cultures
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 10:14:41 -0000
From: Geert Raeymaekers <geert.raeymaekers@ecosystems.be>
To: 'bryonet-l@mtu.edu' <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

BRYONET

Dear Jenny and Wayne,

Have also a look at W. Schoffield "Introduction to Bryology". In one of the
appendices of this manual, he lists a number of techniques to grow mosses .
Success with your research projects; I hope this might help to get you
started.

G. Raeymaekers

moss cultures

Subject: Re: moss cultures
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 8:59:50 +0100
From: ron.porley@english-nature.org.uk
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu, moptjjkr@stud.man.ac.uk

BRYONET

Dear Jenny
This is what I like to hear - people interested in the culture of bryophytes!
Many people, as you will have gathered, have dabbled in this with varying
degrees of success. In the UK the late Harold Whitehouse of Cambridge done much
in this area, using axenic cultures on agar slopes. He was able to keep
bryophytes alive for years, but they were slow growing and difficult to bulk up.
Then there is Michael Fletcher of Reading who has grown bryophytes in a
glasshouse and amassed so much experience and published a booklet all about
growing mosses. Jeff Duckett of Queen Mary College is one of our best exponents
in culturing mosses today, and has recently prepared a paper on the subject for
publication in proceedings of a workshop we held on the ex situ conservation of
bryophytes in Feb 1999. If you ask him he may let you see it.

Current interest is that we (English Nature) and the other statutory
conservation agencies in Britain have a contarct with Kew for them to study all
the different ways to culture bryophytes and set up what is in effect a
'bryophyte bank' of threatened bryophytes at Kew - a world first!
Jane Burch is the one at Kew who will be doing the work, and she has already
contacted you. I encourage you to liaise with her, as I'm sure she can tell you
all you need to know. But if you want to ask me anything do get in contact.
Regards

Ron Porley
EN Bryologist

moss cultures

Subject: Re: moss cultures
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 08:44:10 +0200
From: Serge Hoste <serge.hoste@rug.ac.be>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

Dear Jenny,

Indoors, I have used the following method with decent success (6 months
without major problems so far, an occasional loss set aside). I use
clear plastic boxes with hermetically closing lid. A patch of moss of 10
cm diameter with little or no substratum left on it, is placed inside
and humidified once with a few cc of water. Overdoing it is the killer.
The patch is realy only as wet (probably less) as when it was collected.
I keep a stack of such boxes on a north facing window.

Outdoors I have used a big flower pot filled with soil straight from the
garden into which the patch is lightly pressed. Thus, I have kept (and
developped sporophytes) of mosses and liverworths alive over long
periods of time under a noth facing awning, watering as little as
possible.

Yours truly,

Serge
--
Prof. Dr. Serge Hoste
Research Group on Solid State Chemistry and Ceramic Superconductors
Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry WE06V
University of Ghent
Krijgslaan 281, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
phone 32-9-264 44 41 (-21 secretary)
fax 32-9-264 49 83
email serge.hoste@rug.ac.be
http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~shoste/

Bryophyte culture

Subject: Bryophytes
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2000 16:40:49 +0100
From: Jane Burch <j.burch@rbgkew.org.uk>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

Dear Jenny,
Further to my very brief Email about the intended species, I get the
impression that you are intending to grow them axenically, as you
used the term culture. Is this right?

I just want to get an idea of where you intend on taking your
research as I think I may be able to give a few tips. I'm just
completing my Ph.D which was about bryophytes. I have worked
with several species which involved growing them in the lab and I
am now working on a project which is growing bryophytes in
culture.

Anyway, hope to hear from you soon,

Jane Burch
Bryophyte Conservation Officer
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

moss cultures

Subject: Re: moss cultures
Date: Sat, 21 Oct 2000 14:47:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: Janice M. Glime <jmglime@mtu.edu>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

BRYONET

Our greenhouse caretaker has been experimenting with keeping mosses alive
and is being quite successful. The biggest problem she had was mold. Now
she is keeping them in clear plastic boxes the size of shoe boxes, growing
on sand. I'll pass the message on to see if she can add any pointers.
Janice
***********************************
Janice M. Glime, Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, MI 49931-1295
jmglime@mtu.edu
906-487-2546
FAX 906-487-3167
***********************************

bryophyte culture media

Subject: Re: bryophyte culture media
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 14:08:55 -0500
From: xianson@falcon.cc.ukans.edu (Michael Christianson)
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

Phytagel and mosses.
Yes, Phytagel can work with bryophyte culture media. The media are
wonderfully clear, nice for taking pictures.
However, although it is less expensive than agar, when I compared
growth rates of my mosses (Funaria landraces) on media, differing only in
gelling agent, Difco BactoAgar allows faster growth. So I don't use
Phytagel.

Phytagel is a gellan gum, now also approved for use in the food
industry (Orbit, the bottled drink with suspended blobs, is gelled with
phytagel). So the stuff Sigma now sells is a little less wonderful that the
stuff they used to sell. 2g/L used to work fine, but no longer (at least
for me).
My student uses it to solidify M&S salts based orchid media, and we
use 2.5 g/L to get reproducibly good gel strength. This also works well for
Knop's salts-based moss media. If you are using a medium with very dilute
salts, or with a peculiar pH, you may need more Phytagel -- or may need to
autoclave the gelling agent in half the water, the other medium components
in the other half of the water, and combine right before pouring, to
prevent hydrolysis of the gum at low pH, autoclave pressures and
temperatures.

Michael L. Christianson
Assistant Professor
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas 66045

xianson@falcon.cc.ukans.edu
785/864-3995 voice
785/864-5294 FAX
www.ukans.edu/~eeb/Main/christ.htm

Moss-R-Us .... and Toto too!

bryophyte "glue"

Subject: Re: bryophyte "glue"
Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 12:55:54 BST
From: DAVID LONG <D.Long@rbge.org.uk>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

Dear bryonet
There is information on this subject in the excellent book 'Moss
Gardening' by George Schenk, Timber Press Oregon 1997.
David Long
..........................................................
David G. Long
Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh EH3 5LR, Scotland, U.K.
Tel: (0044) 131 248 2861 (direct line) Fax: (0044) 131 248 2901
Email: <d.long@rbge.org.uk> Home Page: <www.rbge.org.uk>
..........................................................

bryophyte "glue"

Subject: bryophyte "glue"
Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 19:02:05 -0400
From: David H. Wagner <DavidHWagner@compuserve.com>
To: INTERNET:bryonet-l@mtu.edu <bryonet-l@mtu.edu>

As I recall from a traditional recipe, the addition of buttermilk and egg
to a blender with a moss slurry was so that upon drying the buttermilk made
the egg albumen polymerize and act as a protein binder like Haupt's
adhesive. As mosses become established, the adhesive becomes a nice source
of nitrogen.

David H. Wagner, Ph.D.
Northwest Botanical Institute
P.O. Box 30064
Eugene OR 97403-1064
U.S.A.
Tele: 541-342-4169
email: davidhwagner@compuserve.com

Specimen culture

Subject: Re: Specimen culture (fwd)
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 1998 17:33:13 (=UT+1)
From: Gert Steen Mogensen, BM <gertsm@bot.ku.dk>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

Dear Kathy Merrifield,

An efficient way to multiply some mosses is to take a handfull or
more and put it into the kitchen blender with some lokal water (not
from the tap). Spread the blended fluidum on soil (if it is one of your
local species), sit down and wait a month or two. Bonsai-fans love to
have green mosses to cover the soil underneith their plants, and they
use this method successfully.

The point is that if you need large quantities, you need to let your
mosses pass the protonema stage to allow the new gametophores to
adapt to the growth conditions you offer.

Good luck in your work.

Gert Steen Mogensen

Specimen culture

Subject: Re: Specimen culture (fwd)
Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 10:22:09 +1000
From: rod_sep@antdiv.gov.au
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

Re propagation:
Associated to Gert Steen Mogensen's comments.
As was pointed out in similar discussions a year ago by Lewis Anderson, an
ordinary coffee blender (his trick) also works admirably.
If one can't afford the coffee beans anymore at least one can go in for
plant propagation!!
Regards
Rod Seppelt

Dr. Rodney D. Seppelt
Principal Research Scientist
Australian Antarctic Division
Channel Highway
Kingston 7050, Tasmania, Australia

phone: International: +61 (03) 62 323 438
FAX : +61 (03) 62 323 351
Alternate FAX: +61 (03) 62 323 449

Effects of herbicides on bryophytes

Subject: Re: Effects of herbicides on bryophytes
Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 14:08:21 -0500
From: xianson@falcon.cc.ukans.edu (Michael Christianson)
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

You might want to check with the professional herbicidal maniacs at
herbnet@iastate.edu

I have only unpublished laboratory observations.
With the moss Funaria (and in some cases Ceratodon and
Physcomitrella), herbicide effects are often a surprise.

Atrazine --
Thought I'd be able to kill off green cells and select for
chlorophyll deficient or albino mutants --
but atrazine didn't kill my moss until 10-5 M

Fluridone (SONAR)
gives white moss at 10-7 or 10-6 M; growth of Funaria
Physcomitrella more recuded than growth of Ceratodon on sucrose
supplemented medium.

Clorsulfuron, Sulfometuron methyl and other ALS inhibitors
tobacco and Arabidopsis dies at 10-8M; mosses are happy at 10-4M --
if you add 1mM threonine, 10-6 M gives complete restriction of growth.

Of course, I'd love to hear about results you get from actual field trials
-- I'm always in the market for selectable markers and herbicide-resistant
mutants are real handy things.

Michael L. Christianson
Assistant Professor of Botany
7016 Haworth Hall
University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas 66045

xianson@falcon.cc.ukans.edu
913/864-3995 voice
913/864-5294 FAX

Moss-R-Us .... and Toto too!

Effects of herbicides on bryophytes

Subject: Re: Effects of herbicides on bryophytes
Date: Thu, 8 May 1997 12:58:33 BST
From: DAVID LONG <D.Long@rbge.org.uk>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

There are some references to the use of herbicides in the new book
'Moss Gardening' by George Schenk, eg. page 81.
Even those who hate herbicides and their use should read this
wonderful book!
David Long
..........................................................
David G. Long
Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh EH3 5LR, Scotland, U.K.
Email: <d.long@rbge.org.uk> Home Page: <www.rbge.org.uk>
Tel: (0044) 131 552 7171 Fax: (0044) 131 552 0382
..........................................................

[Fwd: bryophyte cultures on soil]

From: "Heinjo During" <HEINJOD@boev.biol.ruu.nl>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 1997 09:48:21 MET-1
Subject: Re: moss culture

Dear Jaan,
You bring up a difficult problem - of course, bryophytes have many
interactions with soil organisms (fungi, bacteria, etc); but is not
easily predictable what the effect of steaming the soil will be. As a
student I have been cultivating bryophytes on several substrates,
including garden soil and steamed garden soil; on both these two
substrates establisment of a range of species went well, although at
a later stage all plants died due to fungal infections. However, I
seem to remember that some experiments with seedlings grown on
steamed soil were unsuccessful because the seedlings died; at that
time I assumed that steaming caused some chemical changes releasing a
toxic substance - but I have no evidence for that. For the next time,
you might consider to use steamed clean sand with a nutrient solution
- this substrate dries out faster, unfortunately, but I have never
had any problems growing bryophytes on it.
Good luck! Heinjo During

H.J. During
Dept. of Plant Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Section of Vegetation Ecology
P.O. Box 800.84, NL-3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands
tel. +31 30 2536847
fax +31 30 2518366
email H.J.During@boev.biol.ruu.nl

moss culture

Subject: Re: moss culture
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 1997 06:12:17 -0400 (EDT)
From: WMeijer@aol.com
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

Bryonetters,

The late Joh. Proskauer was growing many thallose heps on agar media, but i
cannot find much detail about that in his reprints. The Stotler Crandall
couple in Carbondale surely have experience they can share ?? Metzgeriales
can only be studied welll from living collections. Burgeff had extensive
living Marchantia coll. I grew gemmae on deeply dugg up peat, excellent
medium for Calypogeia, even saw cell divisions in vitro during my highschool
years. The Munich Bot. Garden greenhouses with lots of weathering lava blocks
and great use of peatmoss as medium are full with fern prothallia and all
sorts of bryophytes spontaneous growing. My first studied tropical moss came
from a treefern in the old Palm house of the Hortus Bot. Amsterdam next to a
very old Cinn, zeylanicum long ago imported from Ceylon. Herbicides and
pesticides were unknown that time fortunately. Wim Meijer

moss culture

Subject: Re: moss culture
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 1997 09:38:50 +1
From: Jamie Goode <jgoode@cibafound.org.uk>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

For my PhD Thesis I looked at the cytoskeleton and morphogenesis of
the moss protonema (with Jeff Duckett). As well as culturing moss
protonema for this work, as a sort of 'hobby' I tried growing just
about any moss I could lay my hands on from spores, gemmae and
vegetative material. It is really easy to do, but with some mosses
you have to play around a bit. Possibly easiest way to do it is to
take ripe capsules, sterilize them in hypochlorite with a little
wetting agent, and then burst them in a sterile petri dish in say 5-
10 ml sterile distilled water. Using a sterile pippette, inoculate
the plates of nutrient agar (we used a medium called Parker's, but
any standard inorganic nutrient medium should work). Once the
protonema have germinated, it might be best to thin them out
carefully (don't let them dry out if you transfer them). You can also
grow protonema from gemmae in this way, but you have to be more
careful with the sterilization. Bear in mind also that protonema will
regenerate from just about any part of the moss plant, but leaves
etc. don't take kindly to being dunked in hypochorite.

In our experience most mosses develop gametophores without the
addition of growth regulators. In this way I have grown scores of
mosses, including Tetraphis pellucida, Aulocomnium androgynum, Ulota
crispa, Orthotricum Obtusifolium, a range of Spagnum species, a
range of Bryum species, Funaria, Rhytidiadelphus loreus,
Dicranoweisia cirrata and a few others I can't remember. Jeff Duckett
has probably had a go at culturing everything that grows!

It is great fun! Much of this stuff is published, but if anyone wants
any more information, or would like to share their experiences in
culturing protonema, I'd love to kow.

Jamie Goode
Ciba Foundation
41 Portland Place
W1N 4BN
Phone: 0171 636 9456
Fax: 0171 580 4570
Homepage
http://www.cibafoundation.demon.co.uk/
Personal page http://www.wordnet.co.uk/jandfi.htm

moss culture

Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 21:10:37 -0400
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu
From: Jon Shaw <shaw@acpub.duke.edu>
Subject: Re: moss culture

I have consistently found that spores of Funaria hygrometrica and Ceratodon
purpureus germinate best and produce maximum protonemal growth when
agar-solidified medium is somewhat contaminated with fungal hyphae. Too
much fungus overgrows the spores, but a minor amount of hyphae appear to
stimulate growth. The strangest case is Mielichhoferia elongata. Spore
germination is entirely unpredicatable. Sometimes a high percentage of the
spores from a capsule germinate and at other times, none. On many occasions,
we have tried three replicates from the same capsule on different petri
dishes and spores will germinate, at high frequency, in one of the three
dishes! My hypothesis, as yet untested, is that very subtle interactions
with contaminating microorganisms make the difference.

Jon Shaw
Jonathan Shaw
Associate Professor & Curator of Bryophytes
Department of Botany, Duke University
Durham, NC 27708
Fax: 919 660-7293
Phone: 919 660-7344

moss culture

Subject: moss culture
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 1997 09:00:37 +1000
From: Ian Hodgins <I.Hodgins@botany.uq.edu.au>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

Greetings Fellow Bryophyte Culturers
Jaan has raised an interesting question. I cultured soil samples
from SW Queensland under similar conditions and there was no growth
of bryophytes in sterilized soil after two months but the plants
regenerating in the unsterilized soil did not include any species
that had not been found at the study site. My
sterilized controls did not include any intact soil crust
unfortunately only seived soil like the experimental samples. Clearly
we need better controlled conditions to investigate this problem. I
haven't looked at the literature on germination of bryophyte spores
on artificial media perhaps we could hear from some of you who are
experienced in that area.

Keep up the interesting observations on rarity.
Ian Hodgins
Botany Department
The University of Queensland
Qld, 4072
Ph. (07)3365 1457
i.hodgins@botany.uq.edu.au

moss culture

Subject: Re: moss culture
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 19:18:19 -0400 (EDT)
From: Janice M. Glime <jmglime@mtu.edu>

To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

My experience in germinating spores is limited, but my students and
I have successfully germinated Fontinalis squamosa, F. dalecarlica,
Buxbaumia aphylla, Sphagnum magellanicum, and Funaria hygrometrica on
plain agar. In over 100 cultures of Fontinalis squamosa, the only ones
that grew gametophores were the contaminated cultures.
Janice
***********************************
Janice M. Glime, Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, MI 49931-1295
jmglime@mtu.edu
906-487-2546
FAX 906-487-3167
***********************************

moss culture

Subject: moss culture
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 15:03:55 -0400 (EDT)
From: Janice M. Glime <jmglime@mtu.edu>
To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu

> From: "Jaan Palisaar" <Palisaar@pprz02.hrz.Uni-Marburg.DE>
> To: bryonet-l@mtu.edu
> Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 10:55:50 +0000
> Subject: Growing bryophytes from soil samples
>
> Dear bryonetters,
> I had been growing soil samples taken from forests in our institutes
> greenhouse to check for emerging bryophytes and since I had no
> possibility to "seal" them against spore input from outside (too many
> samples, not enough money), I just placed empty samples between them
> to check the greenhouse artfacts. Now I'm wondering if bryophytes
> will establish equally on "sterilized" soil (I think the gardeners
> used steamed soil) and on native soil with all the fungi and
> everything still in it. Do bryophytes interact with fungi when
> growing, do they even have or need some kind of mykorrhiza? The reason I ask
> is that bryophyte establishment on this "null-samples" was very weak
> (some Bryum argenteum and some Campylium), but some of my real
> samples were overgrown with Funaria, Marchantia and Pohlia nutans,
> which I would consider candidats for greenhouse artefacts.
> Thanks for any suggestions
>
> Jaan Palisaar
>
> xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Jaan Palisaar
> Unter den Eichen 35
> 35041 Marburg
> Germany
>
> email: Palisaar@stud-mailer.uni-marburg.de
>
> xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>

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Do species have to be monophyletic?

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