Bumping into Bryophytes in Literature

It always amuses me when I bump into bryophytes when reading, especially when it is my recreational fiction reading. It is pretty common for mosses to be described as part of the background scenery, such as 'The lush verdant forest was covered in a layer of soft moss'. Mosses are also used as part of a survival strategy either as an insulating layer to keep warm or an absorptive padding to pack a wound. Using mosses for wound care is not a fictional idea, but was actually a practice in World War I. Sphagnum mosses are highly absorptive and have antimicrobial properties, which make them ideal for this purpose. But I digress.

Recently I finished reading Margaret Atwood's MaddAdam trilogy and came across the passage pictured here. The Festival of Bryophyta-the-Moss! I was super excited, because The Festival of Cnidaria (jellyfish) was described in such amazing detail with the costumes, games, and even a play about the jellyfish lifecycle! It is a biologist's dream to have festivals focused around different lineages of organisms! Unfortunately I don't think that Atwood consulted with a bryophyte expert, because the above quote is it. A shout out to bryophytes without additional elaboration. No play of the moss lifecycle regaling us with the alternation of phases. I can see it now, in interpretive dance format. The moss emerging from a little spore to begin its life on the moist soil...

I could go on, but I think you get the idea. Taking the moss life cycle into a visual format using people could have made for some great imagery. Instead you can check out the video here for a take on the life cycle with all the stages explained. If you are in to post-apocalyptic tales I would highly recommend the MaddAdam trilogy for your next literary adventure. 

October 2015 Desktop Calendar

Another moss from my trip to southern Chile this past January. Unfortunately I don't have an id for this one. If anyone has any thoughts on a name for this moss, drop me a message in the comments. 

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 Image as Desktop Picture" or "Save Image As...". The wording may vary. (If saving the image to your computer is the only option, then locate it on your computer and choose the "Set as Desktop Background" or "Use Image as Desktop Picture" option from there.)

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.

September 2015 Desktop Calendar

Some Grimmiaceae mosses hanging out with an intensely yellow lichen pal 
from the 2015 SO BE FREE moss foray in the San Bernardino Mountains of California.

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 Image as Desktop Picture" or "Save Image As...". The wording may vary. (If saving the image to your computer is the only option, then locate it on your computer and choose the "Set as Desktop Background" or "Use Image as Desktop Picture" option from there.)

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.

A Symposium on Southern Hemisphere Bryophytes

This past January I attended the 2015 conference of the International Bryological Association in southern Chile. It was a great conference and an amazing location to visit!

The symposium advertised below may only be of interest to professional bryologists, but I would highly recommend that anyone looking for a far off vacation adventure that is loaded with bryophytes consider visiting Puerto Williams on the Island of Navarino. A unique piece of traveling to the end of the world is a 30 hour ferry that takes you from the mainland to the island. On the trip nature abounds. Whales, birds, and glaciers are just a few of the amazing sites to see!

On the Dientes Circuit - January 2015

While there I also went on a spectacular 5-day backpacking trip on the island (Dientes Circuit). It was an intense hike through sunny hot valleys, up an over cold windy passes, skiing down mountains on loose rocks, and slogging through piles of mud. A fabulous way to escape civilization and interact with nature! 

For nature lovers who are not adventure seeking backpackers, the Omora Ethanobotanical Park is a wonderful natural spot that has beautiful plant and bird life. There is a interpretive trail that introduces you to the common bryophytes of the area. Additionally there are even several pairs of Magellanic woodpeckers that live in the park and researchers are actively studying. I went out to try and see them a couple of mornings but no luck. I think this means I will have to go back to southern Chile to add them to my birding life-list!

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VIII Southern Connections Congress January 18^th - 23^rd 2016

Punta Arenas, Chile

Symposium: Phylogeography & Ecology of Bryophytes in the Southern Hemisphere

Bryophytes are one of the most important components of high latitude floras in terms of diversity, abundance, and ecological function playing key roles in primary succession, water retention, terrestrial carbon sequestration, and nutrient cycling. At high latitudes bryophytes contribute disproportionately to regional biodiversity, with the Antarctic flora composed almost entirely of bryophytes, and the southernmost tip of the Americas hosting 5% of the world bryophyte diversity on just 0.01% of the earths terrestrial surface. Over the last decade, molecular tools have dramatically shifted paradigms of bryophyte evolution, ecology, and biogeography both globally and in the Southern Hemisphere. Here we bring together cutting edge research on bryophyte phylogeography and ecology in order to highlight the key processes driving diversification, richness, and biogeography of bryophytes across ecosystems and timescales in the Southern Hemisphere.

If you are interested in presenting within, or have questions regarding the symposium please contact the organizers:

Symposium Organizers

Elise Biersma (Cambridge University & British Antarctic Survey, UK, elibi@bas.ac.uk)

Dr. Lily R. Lewis (University of Connecticut, USA, lilyrlewis@gmail.com)

Congress Website & Registration: http://southernconnection2016.com/congress/

August 2015 Desktop Calendar

A crispy patch of Gemmabryum mosses from the 2015 SO BE FREE 

moss foray in the San Bernardino mountains.

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 Image as Desktop Picture" or "Save Image As...". The wording may vary. (If saving the image to your computer is the only option, then locate it on your computer and choose the "Set as Desktop Background" or "Use Image as Desktop Picture" option from there.)

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.

Bryophyte Research Podcasts

The American Bryological and Lichenological Society (ABLS) has started a podcast to feature current research on bryophytes and lichens directly from the experts. 



Episode 1 focuses on transcriptomics. Let me try to break this down for you. Transcripts are small messages (mRNA) that are copied from the DNA and are used as templates to make proteins. -omics refers to a field of study. So transcriptomics is the study of transcripts. When you compare the transcripts from different organs or different developmental stages it can point toward genes that are turned on and off between the two, indicating those genes that potentially make them different.  

Episode 2 is about the sex lives of bryophytes and lichens. Fortunately no explanation on the topic is needed there. 

You can listen to the full podcasts here on the ABLS website.

The Genetics of Resurrection Plants

A great article from KQED Science about resurrection mosses. Scientists are learning more about these tough plants with the goal of using their genes to improve crop plants, so that they can better survive the drought conditions in California. 

Click here for the full article. 

Professional Website Update

I finally got around to revising my professional website. It was way out of date and could use some sprucing up. I originally had some large ambitions to switch to a Wordpress site with a sharp theme, but the learning curve was just too steep for me at the moment. So instead I just made some changes to my iWeb site and posted it up. 

The only issue I keep running into with this platform is that the spacing is difficult to get right. Something about the way the formatting is automatic and my inability to see behind the scenes to tweak it. If you have any other suggestions for different website platforms that you like it would be great to hear about them!

Bryology Foray in California

Want to experience the wonders of bryophytes in California? Consider attending SO BE FREE 21 (details below). I attended last year when we explored the mosses of the San Bernardino Mountains and the year before that when we were in the hills of Santa Cruz. They were both really great trips! I especially enjoy getting to spend time with both amateur and professional bryologists from across the state and country. It is a great networking opportunity to plug into the bryology community. Hope to see you at the next foray!

This is a photo from the 2015 SO BE FREE foray. I just realized that I hadn't downloaded the photos from my camera. A post with the highlights from that awesome foray will be coming soon!

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The Twenty-First Annual

Spring Outing
Botanical Excursion
Foray, Retreat, and Escape to the Environment

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    SO BE FREE  21    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Brought to you by the new Bryophyte Chapter of the California Native Plant Society!

Friday to Monday, March 18-21, 2016
North Coast Range near Occidental, California
Coordinators: Stephen Rae, David Hutton, Kiamara Ludwig

Founded in 1996, SO BE FREE is a series of West Coast forays started by the Bryolab at UC Berkeley, but open to all botanists. The main focus is on bryophytes, but we also encourage experts on other groups to come along and smell the liverworts.  We welcome specialists and generalists, professionals and amateurs, master bryologists and rank beginners.  SO BE FREE is held each spring, somewhere in the Western US, associated with spring break at universities.  Evening slide shows and informal talks are presented as well as keying sessions with microscopes.  In addition to seeing interesting wild areas and learning new plants, important goals for SO BE FREE include keeping West Coast bryologists (and friends) in touch with each other and teaching beginners.  To see pictures and information from past outings, visit the SO BE FREE website at: http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/bryolab/Field_Trips.html

 One important function of this year's SO BE FREE will be to serve as the first annual meeting of the brand new Bryophyte Chapter of the California Native Plant Society, which was just founded May 30th, 2015.  See: http://bryophyte.cnps.org for details, and to join!

The 2016 SO BE FREE will be held in the North Coast Range approximately 1.5 hour north of San Francisco.  Although adjacent Marin County has been the subject of a moss flora, and the Lake County Moss Flora by David Toren will soon be released, Sonoma County has not yet been treated floristically.  The county has marine sandstone deposits, volcanics, serpentine, and riparian habitats, supporting a wide range of bryophytes.  Participants will see coastal prairie, coast redwood forest, live oak woodland, serpentine chaparral, and chaparral scrub.

Beginners are very welcome to SO BE FREE, and this year we will have a special, expanded workshop session for beginners on Friday afternoon at the start of the event.  That session will include slide shows and discussions on bryophyte biology and natural history, and be augmented by mosses and liverworts on display (and under the microscope).  Saturday, Sunday, and Monday morning we will have field trips to satisfy all participants from neophyte to expert! 

See: http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/common/images/SBF21_announcement.pdf for more details about housing and meals, and the registration form.  Room reservations will be filled on a first come first served basis, soplease register early!  Early Registration Deadline is Dec. 15, 2015.  Regular registration Deadline is Feb. 19, 2016.

July 2015 Desktop Calendar

Some lovely liverworts from Chile to grace your desktop this month!

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 Image as Desktop Picture" or "Save Image As...". The wording may vary. (If saving the image to your computer is the only option, then locate it on your computer and choose the "Set as Desktop Background" or "Use Image as Desktop Picture" option from there.)

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.

A Science Blogger Survey

Have you ever wondered why people write science blogs? In the age of Twitter and Instagram are science blogs still popular? Is science blogging dying out? Does anyone actually read them? Feedback from readers can sometimes be few and far in between. As the writer of a science blog it sometimes feels like I am shouting into an internet void. Is anyone listening?

I recently participated in a survey that went out to science bloggers about this very topic. I was excited to participate in someone's dissertation research and interested to see what came from the survey. The research is being conducted by Dr. Paige Brown Jarreau (@FromTheLabBench) at Louisiana State University. She is disseminating her data and results using open access platforms that enable us to see behind the scenes and to check out the research results prior to formal scientific publications. 

So what information does she have out there for us to explore and what can we learn from her study about science blogging?

Brown, Paige (2014): MySciBlog Survey - 
Top Read SciBlogs by SciBloggers. figshare. 
http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1278974

Part of the research involved determining the connections between science blogs. Answering questions like, as a science blogger which science blogs do you read? Or who are the science bloggers that follow your science blog? Interesting questions, but how do you display this type of data once you have the information? Here Paige walks you step by step through the process of using data to map a social network.

The best part in my opinion is this interactive network available on figshare. You can zoom in on different parts of the network and see how connected each of the science blogs and bloggers are to others in the community. You can find Moss Plants in Group 8. The black cluster in the lower right corner. I follow other science bloggers, but no one else in the survey follows my blog. A bit disappointing, but potentially to be expected. Another interesting pattern that you can see from this graphic is the highly connected red blog on the left side. That is blog Not Exactly Rocket Science from National Geographic. It looks to be very popular among science bloggers and might be one that I need to check out to see what it is all about. 

The slides from Paige's dissertation presentation walk you through the big picture and major findings of her research. She also breaks the research down point by point in this blog post.

For some additional reading on this project check out Paige's blog post that argues using her data that science blogs are not dying. Thank goodness! My posting has become more monthly rather than weekly these days and I was pondering whether or not I should keep it up. For now I am still in for blogging, but I am contemplating inviting some colleagues to guest post. So if you know of anyone who is interested in practicing their science communication skills and writing posts about mosses just drop me a message. 

June 2015 Desktop Calendar

Another group of mosses from my bryological adventures in Chile this past winter!

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 Image as Desktop Picture" or "Save Image As...". The wording may vary. (If saving the image to your computer is the only option, then locate it on your computer and choose the "Set as Desktop Background" or "Use Image as Desktop Picture" option from there.)

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.