This Guide was created to serve field biologists who have need to locate and identify bryophytes of conservation concern in the Southern Appalachians and adjacent regions. Others may find the Guide useful as a supplement to formal taxonomic works (e.g. Flora of North America, Mosses of Eastern North America by Crum and Anderson 1981, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America East of the Hundredth Meridian by Schuster 1966-1992, Guide to the liverworts of North Carolina by Hicks 1992).
For each species treated the Guide provides photos of precise locations (habitats) where the species of concern occurs, habit photos presenting views similar to field observations through a hand lens, and micrographs of dissected specimens of similar image quality that practical botanists are likely to see at their own lab bench. It is hoped that the Guide may help alleviate the "lack of 'image' within the sphere of nature conservation" that hampers bryophyte conservation (Hallingbäck and Hodgetts 2000, p. viii, Mosses, Liverworts, and Hornworts. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan for Bryophytes. IUCN/SSC Bryophyte Specialist Group.).
Development of this Guide was supported by a Participating Agreement between the University of North Alabama and the USDA Forest Service, National Forests in North Carolina, 2014-2018. The Participating Agreement (PA) specified the completion of a guide to 30 species of bryophytes that are of conservation concern and that occur in the Southern Appalachians. Twenty-seven species (or infraspecific taxa) have global ranks of G3, G3G4, G3G5, T2 or rarer status. The three taxa with global ranks G4 or G5 were included because they are rare regionally (Bryoxiphium norvegicum, Metzgeria violacea), or poorly understood having been named new to science relatively recently (Pellia appalachiana). Many other species in the region are of conservation concern, and we plan to expand the Guide to include additional species.
As a result of this project and the accumulation of unpublished floristic records over the past 30 years, the Global rarity of several species should be reaccessed, e.g. Drepanolejeunea appalachiana, Lejeunea blomquistii and Frullania appalachiana.
The 30 species completed under the 2014-2018 PA are the following:
1)Mosses: Brachydontium trichodes, Bryoxiphium norvegicum, Donrichardsia pringlei, Fissidens appalachensis, Fissidens closteri, Homaliadelphus sharpii, Leptontium viticulosoides var. sulphureum, Leptohymenium sharpii, Plagiomnium rhynchophorum, Pohlia rabunbaldensis, Schlotheimia lancifolia, Syntrichia ammonsiana, and Syntrichia amphidiacea.
2)Liverworts: Bazzania nudicaulis, Cephaloziella spinicaulis, Cheilolejeunea evansii, Cololejeunea ornata, Diplophyllum andrewsii, Drepanolejeunea appalachiana, Frullania appalachiana, Lejeunea blomquistii, Lejeunea sharpii, Lophocolea appalachiana, Marsupella paroica, Metzgeria violacea, Pellia appalachiana, Plagiochila caduciloba, Plagiochila echinata, and Porella japonica subsp. appalachiana.
3)Hornwort: Nothoceros aenigmaticus.
Davison, P.G., and Kauffman, G. Identification Guide to Selected Bryophytes of Conservation Concern Occurring in the Southern Appalachians, University of North Alabama, 2018, southernappalachianbryophytes.org. [date accessed].
Paul Davison is a Professor of Biology with the University of North Alabama and a member of the Tennessee Rare Plant Scientific Advisory Committee.
Gary Kauffman is a Botanist and Plant Ecologist with the USDA Forest Service, National Forests in North Carolina.
Clicking on an image opens the image in a new window. The url displaying the image includes the collector's name (as an abbreviation) and the collector's number. The abbreviation pgd is for Paul G. Davison, rjs is for Rebekah J. Smucker. Specimens of Leptohymenium sharpii are housed in the herbarium of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP), specimens of Rebekah J. Smucker are housed in the Appalachian Ranger District office of Pisgah National Forest, and all other specimens are in the herbarium of the Univeristy of North Alabama (UNAF). Clicking on an image once displayed in the new window enlarges it to full size. Depending on your equipment, the images can be zoomed by spreading fingers on a touch screen or by holding the control key while rolling the wheel of a mouse.
Habitat photos were taken with either a Nikon D70s and 60 mm lens or an iPhone 7 mounted on a tripod. Most habit photos were taken in the lab with a Canon EOS Rebel SL1 and MP-E65mm lens. Micrographs of dissected specimens were taken with a Sony Handycam HDV 1080i camcorder mounted on a Nikon Alphaphot-2 YS2 compound microscope and projected on a Sony LCD 35 inch monitor. A few images were taken with a Leica MC120 HD camera mounted on a Leica S8APO dissecting microscope.
Images were taken and processed by Paul Davison. Habit photos and micrographs were created with the focus stacking software CombineZP. Image adjustments and other arrangements were made with Adobe Photoshop.
Regional range maps for 21 species were prepared by Gary Kauffman. He and Paul Davison carefully scrutinized collection records pulled from the Consortium of North American Bryophyte Herbaria (CNABH), other conservation databases, selected publications, and herbarium records in UNAF yet to be recorded in the CNABH network. The accepted records are mapped at the county level.
This web site was designed by then UNA student Martin Tuck. Martin volunteered his time and talent for which we are very grateful.
Over the past three decades several consulting projects which involved Paul Davison and/or Gary Kauffman produced range extensions of several species collected in the company of the following biologists: Jamie Amoroso, Lewis Anderson, Keith Bowman, Matt Bushman, Geoff Call, Todd Crabtree, Bob Dellinger, Marie Hicks, Wesley Knapp, David Lincicome, Ken McFarland, Carl Nordman, Tom Patrick, Mark Pistrang, Dan Pittillo, Allen Risk, Ed Schwartzman, Carl Sloan, David Smith, Becky Smucker, Johnny Townsend, and Tom Wieboldt.
Duke Rankin, Threatened and Endangered Species Program Manager with the USDA Forest Service, supported prior field surveys for Drepanolejeunea appalachiana and Schlotheimia lancifolia.
Suzanne Oberholster and Rhonda Stewart, former Alabama botanists with the USDA Forest Service, contracted with Paul Davison intermittently from 1994 to 2008 through the University of North Alabama to conduct bryological field surveys for sensitive species in Bankhead National Forest. Several unpublished range extensions into Alabama resulted from these surveys and a few images from this period are included in this Guide.
Mark Pistrang, Botanist/Ecologist with Cherokee National Forest, supported development of an identification guide to common species of mosses and liverworts available here for download. That experience, with photography advice from Ken McFarland and Ralph Pope, helped shape this Guide.
Mincy Moffett and Matt Elliott, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, approved use of images and text produced under contract with the University of North Alabama. Additional acknowledment is given on the individual pages of the species concerned.
Becky Smucker shared specimens and floristic records from her own projects with National Forests in North Carolina.
Keith Langdon made it possible to conduct field work in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (2018).
Heather Sullivan, Botanist with the Mississippi Natural Heritage Program, provided permission for conducting field work in Tishomingo State Park (2018).
Jennifer Stanley, Research Specialist with the North Carolina Plant Conservation Program, granted permission to access Cedar Cliff Mountain Plant Conservation Preserve (2018).
Jim Lacefield gave permission to collect in Cane Creek Canyon Nature Preserve in nortwest Alabama (2018).
Allison Cochran and Travis McDonald facilitated the permit for field work in Bankhead National Forest (2016-2018).
Anita Holcombe, Director of Grants and Contracts Accounting at the University of North Alabama, chaperoned the budgetary details of the Participating Agreement with the USDA Forest Service.