Field of Science

January 2013 Desktop Calendar


I have decided to continue with the desktop calendars for this year. Apologies for the posting delay. I moved to Davis, California at the beginning of the month and am on a quest to get some new moss images for the calendars.

Shown here is the first moss that I saw on my walk around Davis, Funaria hygrometrica. It is pretty fitting that the first moss I met was the species that I focused on for my dissertation. It is not the prettiest moss in the wild, but is super scrappy and can tolerate exposed conditions. It usually grows in open, disturbed habitats, near grills/fire pits in campgrounds or on open soil in flower beds. It has a curved capsule, twisted stalk and large calyptra that you can see on some of the unexpanded sporophytes in the background. These sporophytes are around 2.0-2.5cm tall. Each capsule can produce tens of thousands of spores and can be found around the world in temperate areas.


1 - Single click on the image to open it up in a new window. (If you use the image directly from the blog post you will lose a lot of resolution.)

2 - Right-click (or ctrl-click) on the image, and chose the option that says, "Set as Desktop Background" or "Use as Desktop Picture". The wording may vary.

3 - If the image does not fit your desktop neatly, you may have to adjust the image (Mac: System Preferences - Desktop and Screen Saver - Desktop; Windows: Control Panel - Display - Desktop) and choose "Fill screen" as the display mode of your background image.