previous bryophyte workshops

TEXAS BRYOVENTURE - 1

16-18 February 2018

The first outing of the group, was held in the Big Thicket National Preserve in deep southeast Texas. Celebrated for its renowned floral and faunal diversity, the Big Thicket National Preserve comprises over 100,000 acres of upland and bottomland forests, wet prairies and savannahs, bogs, wetlands, and many other unique habitats.  Originally set aside in 1974, the National Park Service sought to preserve the remaining habitats of the much broader “thicket” which was quickly disappearing due to decades of urban and rural development, commercial logging, and oil/gas exploration.  The preserve is composed of 15 discontinuous land units, connected by several stream and river corridors which are spread out across 7 counties north-northwest of Beaumont.  The region is still largely a rural environment, but threats to the natural environment are ever present.

TEXAS BRYOVENTURE - 2

22-24 February 2019

We had a good crowd for our meeting in Austin coordinated by Ingrid Karklins of Environmental Survey Consulting. We met on Friday afternoon at McKinney Roughs Nature Park just north of Bastrop for some pre-workshop collecting. The good spring weather (cool and damp) allowed us to see quite a number of bryophytes in the field, including Anthoceros sp. (hornworts). We spent the remainder of the evening with a lecture and some microscope work in preparation for the following day’s adventure.

On Saturday we headed west to Llano County where we were granted access to the Livings Ranch for some upland and riparian collecting. The upland site was quite productive as we spent over an hour examining the ephemeral species in the parking area. Quite a few early successional species were in abundance including Bryum lanatum, Physcomitium pyriforme, Bruchia brevifolia, and numerous thalloid liverworts (Riccia sp., Reboulia sp.).

Sunday was spent at the Nature Conservancy’s Barton Creek Preserve. This was a wonderful site with plenty of species along the banks of Barton Creek and quite a few on the wooded rocky hillside slopes. This site had the only aquatic mosses we found at any site during the workshop.

A few of the species we found included Fissidens obtusifolius, on the rocks to the right side of the image, and a number of terrestrial species such as Entodon seductrix, Brachythecium sp., Syntrichia sp., on the rocks and trees above the creek bank. Frullania sp. was a frequent leafy liverwort inhabiting the rocks and trees as well.

TEXAS BRYOVENTURE - 3

29-31 March 2019

Back to the Big Thicket again! This has always been my sort of “go to” location because of the facilities at the Field Research Station and the close proximity to the Big Thicket National Preserve which offers countless habitats to explore and many opportunities for collecting. The schedule was much the same as in previous trips: Friday afternoon field time and an evening lecture/laboratory; Saturday morning field work in the Turkey Creek Unit bogs and drainage swales followed by dissecting and keying of specimens collected that morning. On Sunday we tackled Sphagnum with a long morning trying to get a grasp on the distinctive morphology of the “peat mosses” collected the previous day.

BRYOPHYTE MORPHOLOGY

8-9 February 2020

The site for this workshop was the University of Texas’ Stengl “Lost Pines” Biological Station near Bastrop. Located in the historical “lost pines” region of Bastrop County, the Biological Station comprises nearly 600 acres of pine-oak woodlands about 40 miles from Austin. The property was spared the devastating wildfires fires in October of 2011 so we had plenty of material to sample.

The group started with a refresher lecture on bryophyte morphology on Saturday morning, followed by a leisurely hike to reach an embankment along the creek at the eastern edge of the property. Pausing frequently along the way, the group made collections of many common species such as Leucodon julaceus, Ditrichum pallidum, Leucobryum albidum, Thelia lescurii, and Pogonatum brachyphyllum. The end of the hike was at the steep embankment along the creek which offered plenty of collecting opportunities for liverworts such as Scapania nemorea, Calypogeia neogaea, and Fuscocephaloziopsis connivens var. connivens. Another pleasant surprise was Fissidens fontanus which was very abundant on the tree roots and rocks along the stream bank.

Sunday morning brought a refreshing light rain which was welcomed by all, especially the bryophytes.  Walking through the woods and prairies it was nice to see the mosses and liverworts revived, and in great condition, following the early morning shower.  The added moisture allowed the bryophytes to demonstrate their vibrant colors in every shade of green imaginable. After a couple of hours collecting in the upland savannah near the cabins, we settled in for a quick lunch and a few more hours of scope work before departing.

  Preliminary Checklist