Bryophytes of Nevada On-line
Nevada Bryophyte Inventory – Update Report

What is a bryophyte?

Bryophytes are the first land plants that include three distinct lineages: mosses, liverworts, and hornworts. They differ primarily from the flowering plants by lacking roots, flowers, seeds, and a defined system of tissues for transporting fluids throughout the plant. Bryophytes reproduce not by seeds but by single-celled spores. Many bryophytes can also form new plants by vegetative means. Bryophytes are important in ecosystem function. They assist in protecting soil from erosion and release the water stored in their cells gradually back into the environment. Bryophytes have two features that make them fairly unique; they are capable of dealing with long periods of desiccation thereby shutting down all cellular activity and then the ability to rapidly come back to life when water again becomes available.

What happened in 2003?

2003 was another productive year that yielded new bryophyte records for the state. As in 2002, the contributions of NNPS members providing Lloyd Stark and I with bryophyte collections have been extremely valuable to this ongoing project.  Specimens (in order of number of specimens mailed to me) were received by Jan Nachlinger, Nathan Williams, Cheryl Beyer, Cheri Howell, Oyvind Frock, Richard Duncan, Ann Pinzl, Dean Tonenna, Gail Durham, Steve Matson, Glenn Clifton, and Christina Nelson.  All of these specimens are extremely important because they help to determine which species have wide habitat and elevation ranges, which species are uncommon and infrequently collected, and which species are recorded for Nevada for the first time.

Next Steps

Lloyd Stark and I in collaboration with John Spence (North American expert on the moss family Bryaceae) are now ready to submit a paper for publication on new bryophytes documented for Nevada.  Our plan is to publish these findings in approximately 25 species increments over the next few years.  Many of the contributors who have sent us specimens to date will begin to see their collections cited in these publications. Our goal is to place a set of all Nevada bryophytes collected at the UNLV herbarium with duplicates (where available) at CAS, MO, NY, UC and in the herbaria where we send samples to other world experts for either determination or confirmation of our identification of specimens.

With a project of this magnitude, the greatest need is access to a lot of specimens! Nevada, the 6^th largest state in the country, has a bryoflora that is not well documented. Prior to this effort, the number of bryophyte specimens from Nevada residing in herbaria for study was equivalent to one specimen per 10 square miles!  Of course there are many mountain ranges in Nevada where not even one bryophyte specimen has been obtained to date. So you could really make a wonderful contribution to the state-wide bryophyte inventory! Many NNPS members are known for their botanical explorations of the back roads and byways of Nevada so my desire to receive bryophyte collections continues. For those who may wish to participate in the Nevada bryophyte inventory in 2004, see the Nevada Mosses On-Line at the state heritage web site at http://heritage.nv.gov/mosses for additional information. This site provides more background articles on mosses of Nevada and also identifies how you can assist this statewide inventory project. A collecting packet that can be printed and/or photocopied to make extra packets for collecting bryophytes is located here too.

So how can I contribute to this project?

One of the first questions botanists and plant enthusiasts ask me is how does one collect a bryophyte? This answer is it’s easier than making a vascular plant collection. The bryophyte sample is simply placed in a collection packet folded from a standard 8.5 x 11 inch piece of paper which is then ready for drying once the collector returns home from the field. While some bryologists use small paper bags for collecting samples, I have concluded that specimens collected and dried in packets make for better looking specimens.  Plastic bags for bryophyte collecting should generally be avoided. While bryophytes can be placed in plastic bags in the field, the specimens need to be placed as soon as possible into packets so they can begin to dry. Bryophytes kept in plastic bags will quickly mildew or become deformed looking. Therefore, it’s best to just start off by developing good collecting habits and use paper collecting packets. When I am collecting in the field, I place my collections (in folded paper packets) in a lightweight plastic shoe box with lid (available from drug stores and department stores usually costing around $2). This keeps the specimens in good shape while on a hike and I can easily place this plastic box in my day pack. The specimens fit nicely in these inexpensive plastic boxes and they are placed in the box like a row of filing cards. Bulky specimens can be further secured in their packet with the use of a rubber band. For bryophytes collected in wet sites (like creeks, springs, meadows etc.), I first gently place the specimen between my palms and squeeze out the excess water.  Sometimes bryophytes collected on muddy soil, if a water source is available, can also be rinsed off, squeezed to remove excess water, and then placed in the collecting packet. These collections too go directly into my field plastic shoe box ready for the trip home.

Another question frequently asked is how much plant material should I collect? The answer here is fairly simple too. The amount that could fit on the palm of your hand is ample for a bryophyte collection. If you want to provide more (and in doing so you would not adversely affect that population) then a more robust packet would be desirable since it offers enough material for a duplicate sample to be placed in a different herbarium.

What other information do you need?  Each plant collection needs to have a few items recorded to make it valuable for a scientist. The key items for any plant collection include: who collected it, when was it collected, where was it collected (as detailed a description as possible so a botanist decades from now could return to the site), what was it growing on (a rock, a log, on soil, submerged in a creek etc.) and any other important feature as an indication of the habitat type (white fir forest, Big Basin sagebrush, quaking aspen woodland etc.).  So this information needs to be gathered at the time of collection and recorded with the specimen. All of this information eventually will be placed on the herbarium label for that collection. If one does not have a field notebook or a collecting numbering system, I suggest you just number your bryophyte packets in chronological order starting with “number 1, 2, 3 etc.” If you use the template packet from the Nevada Heritage site, you will see a list of attribute fields on what will become the top flap of the folded collection packet. All one has to do (once the packet is folded in such a way as to form a “pouch” so the specimen does not fall out) is to circle all of the appropriate fields for that collection and place the specimen in the packet. Voila! That’s all there is to it. Also, once the specimen is identified and ready for processing into the herbarium, I cut off the front flap of the field collecting packet with the circled ecological data and place it inside the labeled archival quality herbarium packet thereby adding further to the scientific value of the collected specimen.

The next most commonly asked question is how are bryophytes dried? This too is simple. They are air dried just like you would for a vascular plant collection except that bryophytes should never be placed in a plant press! Why not you say?  Well as bryophytes dry they have many diagnostic features (how leaves curl and twist). These are valuable clues for identification later. If placed in a plant press and flattened, the bryophytes “loose” many of these drying features. Once I get back home from the field then I transfer the collections from the plastic shoe box sized containers to a plastic tray (you want a tray or basket that has lots of air spaces for circulation). The key to drying bryophytes is to have air go across and between the packets (a small fan works wonders), but they will dry quite nicely in any warm place with air circulation. Just about any method used for drying vascular plants will work for drying bryophytes as long as the specimens can air dry in a few days. If the packets remain wet for longer periods then they will probably begin to mildew or discolor. Once dried, however, bryophytes are basically indestructible.

The next question is how do I know what to collect? This is a bit more difficult to answer. But if one only has time to make limited collections, then I recommend you to seek-out microhabitats that are unique or uncommon on the landscape. For example, within an expansive pinyon pine woodland I would look for places that could harbor intermittent streamlets, seeps or springs, or narrow canyons with large rock outcrops because these habitats would be “islands” within a sea of pinyon pines. Another strategy is to collect bryophytes on as many different rock types and soils as possible since bryophytes relate to different chemicals and pH.  You will be surprised just how many bryophytes can be found on rock crevices and underhangs that only receive minimal light. Most NNPS members who have sent me specimens do so as a random collecting event. They do not generally plan to go collect bryophytes, but rather, have packets in their day pack in the event something catches their eye that they would like to send my way. In your explorations you may come across a very special place like a moss grotto. When you do, think of this project! Much of Nevada is rather arid, so bryophyte diversity is generally greater on north and east-facing slopes. Of course every specimen is valuable to this project, even the common species. What is important is good data about each specimen collected.

The next question concerns reproductive structures (the spore bearing plant). Are sporophytes required? The answer here is absolutely not! Nearly every bryophyte can be identified without the sporophyte attached. For some bryophytes, the sporophytes can be hidden among the leaves but these structures can be easily seen with a hand-lens. Not all sporophytes are erect on a stalk (called a seta). So while sporophytes are nice to have, do not worry if your bryophyte collection lacks them.

So what happens to your contributed bryophyte specimens?

First, I develop a draft label for each collected specimen received unless the collector already has the ability to produce museum quality labels. Second, I will review the specimen under the microscope and place it in a genus or family if I do not know readily what it is.  For really puzzling collections, I will contact a world expert and send a small sample of the collection off to be examined and named. Once a collection is named, then a final label is produced, it is placed in an archival quality herbarium bryophyte packet, and then permanently housed in a herbarium so other researchers will have access to it. So as you can see, some specimens can be named rather quickly while others have to wait until they can be studied in far greater detail at a later date. The key is to have access to large numbers of specimens even though naming them may take a long time.

How should I send them?

While specimens can still be sent to me care of the Department of Botany, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, my new office address listed above at UC Berkeley would be even better. Either way, I look forward to receiving bryophyte packets from an even wider list of NNPS contributors in 2004. Mailing packets can be done at any time once the specimens are completely dry. One of the best ways is to simply place a rubber band around 5 or so packets and place them either in a padded envelope or a cardboard box. Some collectors provide me “range, township, and section”, Latitude/Longitude or UTMs etc. for their collections. Others provide a photocopy of a map which indicates where the specimens were obtained. All of these are useful data sets that assist me in developing accurate labels for your bryophyte collections. If you need more information or would like to join me on one of my Nevada bryophyte collecting expeditions, just drop me a line at jshevock [at] nature [dot] berkeley [dot] edu or call 510.643.0665. Bottom line: You can not send me too many bryophyte collections!! One, a dozen or over a hundred will all be gratefully received and eventually processed into the herbarium.

This page is part of the
Bryophytes of Nevada On-line
web site, with content contributed by
Dr. Lloyd Stark
Plant Ecologist, Bryologist and Assistant Professor
University of Nevada at Las Vegas
and
James R. Shevock
University of California, Berkeley, and
California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco
and hosted by the
Nevada Natural Heritage Program
on the
State of Nevada web server