Winter Wonderland

The cold and blustery winter is upon us. Most of the green plants have dropped their leaves or died back for the winter. The mosses may be the only bit of green that you spot when trudging through the snow on a crisp winter day. Mosses do not die back over winter, instead they hibernate. They go into a state of suspended animation where they can survive freezing temperatures. Exposed to the wind or buried beneath the snow they are quite the winter troopers. Mosses are even able to grow on Antarctica!

How are they able to tolerate freezing temperatures? Well, scientists have been trying to figure this out and they have discovered some of the strategies that the mosses are using.

1) Nagao, M., K. Oku, A. Minami, K. Mizuno, M. Sakurai, K. Arakawa, S. Fujikawa, D. Takezawa. 2006. Accumulation of theanderose in association with development of freezing tolerance in the moss Physcomitrella patens. Phytochemistry 67: 702–709.
In this research article they determined that the mosses load up their cells with a variety of sugars (i.e. sucrose, theanderose) that protect against damage caused by ice crystals. They have to build up these sugars in their cells over time to acquire this freezing tolerance. They can't just jump from the warmth of indoors into the icy cold. If I were to take my mosses from the lab and put them outside they would not survive.

2) Close, T. J. 1996. Dehydrins: Emergence of a biochemical role of a family of plant dehydration proteins. Physiologia Plantarum 97: 795-803.
Dehydrins are a special type of protein that helps the moss cells survive freezing and dehydration, hence the name. These proteins interact with the plasma membrane and other proteins inside the cells. They help to protect them from damage. No matter the amount of protection moss cells do become damaged during freezing, but as long as the damage is not too severe the cells can repair themselves during the spring thaw.

Overall I think that it is a really neat system and I am sure that there is more for the scientists to figure out about freezing tolerance in mosses.

Next time you are out you should shift some snow to check out the mosses beneath, but be sure that you replace the snow that you have moved. The snow can act as insulation keeping the mosses a little warmer and protecting them from the wind. One time when I did dig up a patch and forgot to cover it back up the plants were dead when I returned in the spring. I will not make that mistake again.

The photo to the right is from my annual New Year's Day hike at the James L. Goodwin State Forrest. The only habitat shot that I took was this one of the snowy scenery. We did see a few mosses peaking out of the snow, but it was way too cold for me to take off my gloves to operate my camera more than once. Next time I am out I will definitely take some photos of mosses in the snow. Enjoy the weather!

Bryophytes on Facebook

So I had avoided the Facebook world until I was preparing for my Japan trip this past spring. The other students going on the trip decided to start a group (on Facebook) so that we could see where everyone would be stationed and coordinate trips together. Thus, I decided to bite the bullet and join the Facebook world.

To tell you the truth I think that the whole social networking think can be an enormous time drain. I try to participate minimally, but I do enjoy keeping up with some of my friends using this medium. Anyway there is a bryological point to this post. I decided to see if there were any bryophyte centered groups on Facebook. Perhaps I could use it to connect to other people who like mosses. So I entered 'moss' into the group search engine and boy I should have known better. Kate Moss, Randy Moss...you name it they have a group on Facebook about it. (The same is true for searching for 'moss' on Google, but you probably already figured that out.) So I tried searching for 'moss plants', which is usually my go to. Still no good. But lo and behold searching for 'bryophytes' yielded some better results.

Some of the names of the groups are pretty fun. For example, "A Rolling Aggregate of Minerals Gathers No Bryophytes: Biologists Unite!" and "Bryophytes! will someday rule the world", whose mission statement is pretty tongue and cheek, as you might imagine. I decided to join the group "I heart (symbol) mosses". It seemed to be my speed and may be another way to put me into contact with others who are in 'love' with moss. Maybe Facebook has some redeeming qualities after all, we shall see.

(Stay tuned for a more science-centered post about mosses and winter. It is in the works.)

Moss Stickers

I was cleaning out my office drawers and came across a mossy item that I had not seen in months. (My office drawers tend to become a disaster over the course of the semester.) It was a sticker book made from my moss photos, many of which have been used on this blog. The company that I used is at www.moo.com and is based out of the UK. I had heard about them from somewhere and really liked the idea of making a sticker book. The books come with 16 perforated pages and you can upload a large number of images. I think that I could have had every sticker in the book of a different photo. Instead I picked a set of 12 that I liked, because I knew I would be giving them away. I passed out sheets of these stickers to my labmates and many of them ended up on the fronts of their laboratory notebooks. It wasn't exactly where I had imagined them sticking, but they seem to have enjoyed them. I even have a couple of sheets left! Now I just have to decide where to stick them...

The Stickers shown in the photo from upper left to right: Polytrichum gametophyte stems with fall leaves, Polytrichum stems up close, and Funaria hygrometica. Second Row: Leucobryum mixed with Dicranum, Leucobryum tuft, and Leucobryum upclose. Lower sheet, top row: Anacamptodon capsule, Tetraphis gemmae cups, and Sphagnum. And finally Sphagnum leaf cross section, Tetraphis peristome teeth at the top of the capsule, and Tetraphis gemmae.

Moss Graffiti

A fellow grad student forwarded along this link the website of Anna Garforth, an artists who is working with moss. The mosses are attaching it to the to the sides of buildings and cement walls to spell out words and phrases. Sort of Bio-Graffiti with mosses. Most of her projects listed under Design are of this type. You might be wondering how they attach the mosses to the walls. On one of the websites they say that "completely biodegradable ingredients" are used. I am a little skeptical about this as I did not see a posting of the recipe anywhere. Maybe there are secret ingredients that would open up their method to be used by others? I really hope that the ingredients do not include super glue and their statement about it being biodegradable is accurate. (Sorry but scientists tend to be skeptical until they see methods made public and reproducible results.)

Skepticism aside, I decided to look around to see if anyone else had similar ideas to use moss as urban art. Here are some of the websites that I found. This one features the artist Edina Tokodi and her use of mosses in urban settings. Once again I am not sure how she attaches it? Another question would be where do they get the moss that they are using? Are they growing it themselves, getting it from a landscaper, or collecting from the wild? That was another item that I did not see addressed.

Another one is by Ladybird with step by step instructions are featured on this DIY website. She gets huge points for sharing all the details regarding her moss growing methods on the web! I think that her skull and cross bones is pretty cool design. The moss itself does not look super green or too pretty. But I think that it shows realistic results of her moss growing recipe. It might be hit or miss on how well the mosses grow depending on the species used or the growing conditions.

Overall I think that it is a pretty neat idea. It is sure to put mosses on people's radar where they otherwise may be unaware of it, especially in urban locations.

P.S. If you locate any of the information that I have questions about please let me know through the comments. The world wide web is a big place and I might have just missed the information.

Berry Go Round #12

This botanical carnival has almost arrived full circle with the twelfth edition posted at Foothills Fancies. Check out all of the green plants to help you make it through the snowiness of winter. We are due for 5-9 inches here in Connecticut today. You may not know, but if you peak beneath the snow you will find that the mosses are in a green suspended animation. They are still alive and will resume growth in the spring. Just be sure to cover them back up, because the snow acts as insulation.

Happy New Year Celebrations!

For more about blog carnivals and my posts about the earlier editions of Berry Go Round, click here.

Bryo Emails

I don't know about you, but I have a love-hate relationship with my email. I love being able to efficiently communicate with colleagues. I hate SPAM. I love being able to keep in touch with far away friends. I hate that email can eat up hours out of an otherwise productive day. I love getting updates on a scientific journal's table of contents, so that I don't have to remember to check them. I hate chain-mail that says this must be forwarded lest bad luck will befall you. You get the picture and may have a similar relationship with your email. However it is a necessary evil for many people including me that must be dealt with on a daily basis.

Another item in the love of email column is hearing from people who have read and enjoyed my blog. That is always a bright spot to my day! However I have to admit that my responses to blog emails tend to be shuffled to the bottom of my email list. It can take a couple of weeks for me to make it around to composing a response, especially at crunch times during the semester. So if you are one of those people waiting to hear back from me, I apologize for the delay, but know that you are not forgotten and are on my list.

Speaking of my tardy responses, a few weeks ago I heard from Annette, who has a website about plants (in German) and a more specific site about mosses and liverworts (in German and English). For the bryophytes, she has posted 2 or more color photos for each of the species covered on the website. The photos are really great! They range from broad habit shots down to some higher magnification photos where clusters of antheridia can be seen. There is also an alphabetical list of the species that she has photographed with internal links to the photos. Overall I think that it is a nicely composed website and I would recommend that you check it out to enjoy the beautiful bryophyte photography that Annette has on display.

Berry Go Round #11

The eleventh edition of Berry Go Round has been posted at Catalogue of Organisms. I especially enjoyed the post about the stinking Ginkgo seeds. I had some of them in a savory egg custard in Japan and they are really nice to eat. It was quite the pleasant surprise. I think that the way they are prepared neutralizes the butyric acid, which causes the stinkiness. I would definitely recommend giving them a try in their cooked form.

For more about blog carnivals and my posts about the earlier editions of Berry Go Round, click here.

Moss Life Cycle 3

The spores land on a suitable substrate (either soil, tree bark or rocks, depending on the species) and grow to form a filamentous mat, called protonema (7 o'clock). These protonema filaments have been compared to both algae and rhizoid filaments that attach bryophytes to their substrate.

Each protonema mat can produce many leafy buds that will develop into grown mossy plants (9 o'clock). Thus you can have many individual gametophyte stems in the same patch that are genetically identical to each other. Think clones from your favorite sci-fi movie. All that is needed is a single spore to produce an entire mossy patch.

And there we have it. We have made it all the way through the moss life cycle, hopefully without to much brain strain and confusion. If you have any questions about the life cycle feel free to drop me a line in the comment section.

The Moss Life Cycle 2

The last we heard form our moss life cycle we had arrived at fertilization. This process produces a diploid sporophyte that has two sets of chromosomes per cell. The sporophyte starts out as a small embryo (12 o'clock photo) that grows (2 o'clock photo) and grows (4 o'clock photo). The sporophyte consists of a stalk that elevates the capsule, also called a sporangium, "high" into the air. (Height is relative. The stalk is only a few centimeters tall, but it is much taller than the green leafy gametophyte.)


Inside the capsule, spores (6 o'clock) are produced. They are formed by the cell division process of meiosis. This process takes diploid sporophyte cells and produces haploid spores. Basically it takes the number of chromosomes in a parent cell and decreases them by half in the child cells. These spores leave the capsule flying on the wind and are the part of the moss life cycle that is the main dispersal unit.

They land on a suitable place to grow and... (stay tuned for the continuing adventures of the moss life cycle.)

Bryonet moves to the Blogosphere

Bryonet is an email discussion group operated by the International Association of Bryologists. This listserve facilitates communication among professional bryologists and is a forum for posing questions about bryophytes to a wider audience.

Now this listserve has stepped into the blogosphere and can be found at http://internationalassociationofbryologists.blogspot.com/. The most recent list of posts center on the latest bryophyte classification and a discussion of monophyly.

Stay tuned for upcoming discussions and announcements.

Mosses and the Masses

Ethnobryology is the scientific study of the relationships between people and bryophytes. Some of the uses that people have for mosses and their bryophyte pals include: pollution indicators, decoration in horticulture, fuel, and medicinal purposes. The article that we read last week in laboratory group focused on both folk naming of mosses and their uses in traditional cultures.

Harris, Eric S. J. 2008 Ethnobryology: traditional uses and folk classifications of bryophytes. Bryologist 111(2):169-217.


The discussion of the naming of mosses was really interesting. Dr. Harris points out that many small organisms tend to be lumped together into a group and all called 'mosses'. These include lichens, red algae, lycopods, and the flowering plant Spanish moss. A good point that he makes is that people operate on a large scale from centimeters to kilometers. Mosses are small and the features that are typically used to tell species apart are super tiny and difficult or impossible to see without a microscope. So its small, green, hard to tell apart, then people historically called it a 'moss', whether on not the organisms were actually close relatives.

Dr. Harris identified 150 species with traditional ethnobryological uses. The largest category was medicinal (41%), with uses ranging from treating heart conditions to regrowing hair. Many of these treatments are used and were determined from Traditional Chinese Medicine. In addition to medicinal mosses are used for chinking spaces in the walls of houses, decoration, cleaning, packing, and bedding. This article makes it apparent that traditional cultures are much more connected to the plants that surround them and use them in their everyday lives.

Despite all these uses, most people in the USA probably do not have much personal use of mosses in their daily lives. Besides studying them professionally, the only time I think that I use them is when peat moss comes mixed in the potting soil that I buy for my houseplants. If you have any other uses for mosses in your everyday life feel free to share them in the comments section.

The Moss Life Cycle 1

If you remember anything about plants from biology class you might recall learning about life cycles. Typically this is a challenging and dreaded concept for students to learn. Life cycles involve a lot of new terminology and there are different cycles for every group of plants.

Personally I really like life cycles and I think that they are critical to understanding plant biology. The life cycle of mosses is something that I think about on a daily basis, but I know that is a little out of the ordinary. Below, I introduce the moss life cycle using the moss species that I study, Funaria hygrometrica, so that those of you who aren't as intimately involved with plants would have a good summary of how it all works.

I am going to break this topic down into a few posts since it is a lot of information to digest at once.


Starting on the far left (9 o'clock) is an image of the leafy green gametophyte (aka. the moss plant). This portion of the life cycle is haploid, meaning that it has one set of chromosomes per cell. It is different from the large photosynthetic portion of most plants which is diploid with two sets per cell. It is photosynthetic, capturing sunlight water and carbon dioxide to make sugars.

The function of the gametophyte in the life cycle is to make gametangia. Gametangia (antheridia- male & archegonia - female) are the sexual reproductive structures. Thus the gametophyte is the sexual stage of the life cycle.

At 11 o'clock are two images of these sexual reproductive organs that are produced by the leafy gametophyte. To the far left are the antheridia and below toward the right is an archegonium.

The antheridia are the dark brown structures that each produce hundreds of sperm. The single thin structure is an archegonium which contains only one egg per. The sperm and egg cells are also called gametes.

So we have gametophytes (mossy plant) that make gametangia (antheridia & archegonia) which produce gametes (sperm & egg). All of these structures are haploid and are produced by mitosis. In this process of cell division there is no change in the number of chromosomes per cell .

If you have any tips or comments on learing about the life cycle of mosses, feel free to share in the comments section. Stay tuned for the next installment of the life cycle.