Difference between revisions of "Biology of Bryophytes and Lichens"

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<h2> <span class="mw-headline"><font color="#FF3300">Announcements (always check for new ones)</font></span></h2>
 
<h2> <span class="mw-headline"><font color="#FF3300">Announcements (always check for new ones)</font></span></h2>
 
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<br/>ecological significance lecture: Besides the broad categories of contributions of bryophytes and lichens to the ecosystems,you should be able to discuss based on the last two (but especially today's) lectures, what the implications of bryophytes and lichens sequestration of nutrient are; remember a positive and a negative impact, and how the negative impact may be "overcome".
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<br/>For Thursday: read the paper by Munoz et al. and come prepared with one or more questions.
 
<br/><font color="#FF3300">LECTURE FINAL</font>: here is a set of questions pertaining to the lectures covered so far. {{pdf|http://hydrodictyon.eeb.uconn.edu/courses/greenplants/restricted/studyguidefinal.pdf}} study guide final.
 
<br/><font color="#FF3300">LECTURE FINAL</font>: here is a set of questions pertaining to the lectures covered so far. {{pdf|http://hydrodictyon.eeb.uconn.edu/courses/greenplants/restricted/studyguidefinal.pdf}} study guide final.
 
<br/>LAB REQUIREMENT: You must bring your set of samples for the lab project next Wednesday. This is to insure that you are starting to work toward that assignment. If you fail to bring samples, the likelihood of you running out of time at the end of the semester is high, and you not not have additional time to work on your collections. IF you decide that you cannot collect your own specimens, I will compose a box of the specimens for you to name. You must tell me by tomorrow; I will not accept request after tomorrow.
 
<br/>LAB REQUIREMENT: You must bring your set of samples for the lab project next Wednesday. This is to insure that you are starting to work toward that assignment. If you fail to bring samples, the likelihood of you running out of time at the end of the semester is high, and you not not have additional time to work on your collections. IF you decide that you cannot collect your own specimens, I will compose a box of the specimens for you to name. You must tell me by tomorrow; I will not accept request after tomorrow.
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<td> Th 9 Apr </td><td>21. Ecological significance of bryophytes and lichens</td><td>{{pdf|http://hydrodictyon.eeb.uconn.edu/courses/greenplants/restricted/21Ecologicalsignificancehandout.pdf}} Ecologicalsignificance1.pdf</td><td></td></tr>
 
<td> Th 9 Apr </td><td>21. Ecological significance of bryophytes and lichens</td><td>{{pdf|http://hydrodictyon.eeb.uconn.edu/courses/greenplants/restricted/21Ecologicalsignificancehandout.pdf}} Ecologicalsignificance1.pdf</td><td></td></tr>
 
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<td> Tu 14 Apr </td><td>22. Ecological significance of bryophytes and lichens</td><td></td><td></td></tr>
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<td> Tu 14 Apr </td><td>22. Ecological significance of bryophytes and lichens</td><td>{{pdf|http://hydrodictyon.eeb.uconn.edu/courses/greenplants/restricted/22Ecologicalsignificancehandout.pdf}} 22Ecologicalsignificancehandout.pdf</td><td></td></tr>
 
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<td> Th 16 Apr </td><td>23. Population genetics and evolution of mosses</td><td></td><td></td></tr>
 
<td> Th 16 Apr </td><td>23. Population genetics and evolution of mosses</td><td></td><td></td></tr>

Revision as of 18:42, 14 April 2009

Biology of Bryophytes and Lichens EEB 3240-001 & 001L (4 credits)

Spring 2008 Lectures: T/TH 11.00 AM-12.15 PM Lab W 1-4PM

Lectures and laboratory in TLS115.

Contact Information

Bernard Goffinet
Associate Professor
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
office: 300 Pharmacy/Biology Building
voice: +1 860-486-5290
email: bernard.goffinet@uconn.edu
home page: http://hydrodictyon.eeb.uconn.edu/people/goffinet/

Teaching Assistant
Juan Carlos Villarreal
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
office: 316 Pharmacy/Biology Building
voice: +1 860-486-6306
email: juan.villarreal@uconn.edu
home page: http://hydrodictyon.eeb.uconn.edu/eebedia/index.php/Juan_Carlos_Villarreal

Announcements (always check for new ones)



ecological significance lecture: Besides the broad categories of contributions of bryophytes and lichens to the ecosystems,you should be able to discuss based on the last two (but especially today's) lectures, what the implications of bryophytes and lichens sequestration of nutrient are; remember a positive and a negative impact, and how the negative impact may be "overcome".
For Thursday: read the paper by Munoz et al. and come prepared with one or more questions.
LECTURE FINAL: here is a set of questions pertaining to the lectures covered so far. Pdficon small.gif study guide final.
LAB REQUIREMENT: You must bring your set of samples for the lab project next Wednesday. This is to insure that you are starting to work toward that assignment. If you fail to bring samples, the likelihood of you running out of time at the end of the semester is high, and you not not have additional time to work on your collections. IF you decide that you cannot collect your own specimens, I will compose a box of the specimens for you to name. You must tell me by tomorrow; I will not accept request after tomorrow.
I have posted a short paper illustrating one aspect of evo-devo studies involving bryophytes,... Try to read it for tomorrow.
Key to the Parmeliaceae in CT Pdficon small.gif Parmeliaceaekey.pdf; Parmeliaceae are foliose lichens with a lower cortex and rhizines.
LABORATORY ATTENDANCE: you are required to attend the labs. If you miss 3 labs or more, without a written excuse you will automatically fail the class.
NEXT ASSIGNMENT: On April 30th, the last week of class, the EEB seminar will be presented by Dr. Jolanta Miadlikowska from Duke University. The topic of the talk is: "Exploring lichen symbiosis and its contribution to the diversification of Ascomycota". Your second assignment for the course is to present a one page summary of her talk: font 12, single spaced and one inch margins all around). Your summary must include the question that she is addressing (what hypotheses is she testing?), and some introduction to that topic; how she did it, and what the conclusions are. If this seminar time conflicts with other classes, you need to let me know no later than April 15th. I will then assign you a paper to read and you will have to answer some questions about it.
MIDTERM NEWS (for undergraduates only): Range of grades: 12.5 to 44/50. Recommendations: 1. Study: you should revise your notes after every lecture; if you have any questions, my door is open, and that of Juan Carlos, too. We are here to help you master the material. 2. ask questions in class: if something is not clear to you, let me know. 3. Use the lab to complement your lecture notes: although we are done with the morphology/anatomy lectures, you need to know that material for the lab and lab final. 4. Read the papers: this implies understanding the foundation of the question asked (in a primary literature paper such as Qiu et al.) and of the conclusions reached. If you have any questions about the papers, ask us. For next week's lab, you need to read the paper that I will assign you, and will we discuss it for one hour. You will each be required to hand in one question about the paper, a question that shows that you read the paper and truly do not understand or do not agree with what is said.
EXTRA CREDIT? : Some of you have asked about extra credit, in order to catch up for lost ground. Rather than spending time on additional assignments, you should focus on the lecture material and the reading assignments. The midterm only counts for 20% of your final grade; if you excel on the final and lab final you will pass the class without any doubt, and even finish with a very good grade. Stay positive and once again, if you need help, ask for it.
LAB PROJECT: if you have not yet begun collecting specimens for your project and do not know where to collect, ask me and I will refer you to some localities with great samples. Remember that weedy species in disturbed habitats (scuh as a lawn or trail) are likely to be more difficult to identify.
I have posted the hand-outs for the next lecture. Please print them as I will NOT bring any to class.
I have also posted the link to the YOUTUBE video I mentioned in class (see below). Take a minute to see it.
Here is a study-guide for the midterm from past years (Pdficon small.gif Studyguide.pdf). This should give you an idea of the type of questions I may ask. You should try to answer these (preferably among yourselves first; i.e., in groups). I would be happy to check your answers.
If you are interested in the classification of bryophytes, you can consult the links listed here [1].
LAB PROJECT: As indicated earlier 15% of your final grade is for a lab project. This project consists in identifying 10 different bryophytes and lichens. Undergraduates get 1 point for the correct genus and 1.5 points if the species is correct. Gradate students get 0.5 point for the correct genus and full marks for the correct species identification. You will have time during the last few labs to identify your collection; you must collect you own samples. Correctly identified samples will be deposited in our herbarium, and hence MUST be accompanied by a label that states, besides the species name, locality (as accurate as you can: country, sate, county, town, habitat, date, elevation, lat & long). We will talk about this more in class.
MOSS MATS in your bathroom? Check this out [2]
Note that a new set of hand-outs for the upcoming hornwort lecture have been posted this Friday, replacing the previous ones.

After the hornwort lecture you should be able to distinguish (and hence characterize) the gametophytes and sporophytes of liverworts, mosses and hornworts. Traits to compare include: architecture of vegetative plants (rhizoids, stems/leaves/thallus), architecture of sporophyte (seta, meristem, sporangium, stomata, etc,...). May I also reiterate that all papers assigned, and thus including the Shaw & Renzaglia paper, are considered lecture and hence midterm material.

I will be handing back the first assignment. Some comments or recommendations:
1. Take the assignment seriously; this includes working on your presentation of the life cycle. The cleanliness of the assignment reflects on how serious you took the assignment. I value clean documents.
2. Answer the question: in many cases an answer was provided, yet, often it fails to actually answer the question. For example: Justify why the sporangium is diploid. Common answer: because it produces haploid spores. Well, a gametophyte produces haploid sperm-cells and eggs, does that make it diploid? No. A sporangium is diploid because it arises through mitotic division from a diploid zygote. That is all.
3. The grading is “tough”. But think about it, you had one week to complete the work, and it is only worth 2.5% of your final grade (no point in splitting hairs: should this be -1 or – 0.5). The range is 5-9/10.
There will be another assignment later in the semester.

Remember that attendance of the laboratory is required.

Evolution of land plants lecture: I am posting my notes of the lecture Pdficon small.gif Landplantevolution.pdf, so you can compare and estimate whether you are on track! Please read the last two subchapters: timing on the evolution of land plants (which I quickly covered in class), and the developmental tool kit of land plants (which I think would gather your interest).
COLLECTING BRYOPHYTES AND LICHENS: here is a template for the labels you will need to do Pdficon small.gif Collectiontemplate.doc. Remember that you should collect 10 specimens of bryophytes and lichens. DO NOT COLLECT in state or national parks. Try to collect nice specimens. Bad material leads to difficult identification. Collect the specimen and place it in a brown sandwich bag, and let it air-dry. Record locality and habitat as precisely as you can.

Textbook and readings

There is no official text book. Instead, you will be assigned readings from the primary literature to go with the lectures. The reading is required, and the material covered in the paper is part of the lecture material, and hence subject to questions on the midterm and final.
Two books that are relevant and available in the library: Shaw & Goffinet (2000) Bryophyte Biology or its latest version Goffinet & Shaw (2008) and Nash (Lichen Biology). If you are interested, you can buy them. I can also order them at a discount (although it may come out close to what you get on line with major distributors).

Grade

The final grade is calculated based on your lecture grade (60%; i.e., 5% assignment(s), 20% midterm and 35% - cumulative (I'll explain) - final) and lab (40%; i.e., 15% project and 25% final). No curves, but chances to make up points if needed!

Links

"Whitish smoke in the movie are small droplets containing smreps (deliberate misspelling of word for male gametes). The smreps in the droplets are still un-motile. When touch the water, they begin to swim. In our experiments, misting with water is trigger of the explosion. If antheridia were mature, the explosion begin within few minutes. The event continued about for 10 min. Intense light for video recording also seems to accelerate the phenomenon. Each antheridia is deeply sunk in a cavity of antheridiophore and there is a very small pore on the top of each cavity. Swollen cells of surrounding tissue might cause the pressure force. Cavers (1903) and Muggoch & Walton (1942) also discussed about the mechanism, but, I think no one examined about the detail mechanism of the phenomenon. In Hiroshima, the season of mreps dispersal is Spring (April to May). In our field observation, we detected many airborne smreps in the sunny day after rain shower. I do not have detail data about how many species of liverworts have airborne mreps. At least, Asian species of Conocephalum (C. japonicum) do in the same manner." M. Shimamura

Shimamura, M., Yamaguchi, T. & Deguchi, H. 2008. Airborne sperm of Conocephalum conicum (Conocephalaceae). J. Plant Res. 121: 69-71. http://www.springerlink.com/content/fl2105h6428366m3/

  • Not surprisingly, internet sites devoted to the biology of bryophytes and lichens are "abundant", well let's say that sites dedicated to bryophytes exist! Some may hold information that is relevant to this class. One example is Bryophyte Ecology maintained by Dr. Janice Glime. I will look for more. You may want to consult the list maintained by Jessica Budke, another graduate student in my lab, and her moss blog entitled Moss Plants and more.


Schedule

Notes:
downloads require password; best viewed in Adobe Reader (some problems with the MAC "Preview" program).
The syllabus is subject to change. You will get papers assigned one lecture and maybe one week ahead. Check the site frequently.

Date Topic Reading Lab.
Tu 20 Jan 1. Introduction: life cycle, phylogenetic terms...Take notes!First encounter with bryophytes, and visiting the herbarium :Pdficon small.gif Lab1: introduction
Th 22 Jan 2. Marchantiophyta or liverwortsPdficon small.gif article by Shaw & Renzaglia but only the pages dealing with liverworts.
Pdficon small.gif Liverwort figures
Tu 27 Jan 3. Marchantiophyta or liverwortsThe reading of Shaw & Renzaglia is required. Please do so! AND watch the video referred to under LINKSPdficon small.gif Lab2: Thalloid liverworts
Th 29 Jan 4.Bryophyta or mossesShaw & Renzaglia paper: pages on mosses;
Pdficon small.gif Moss figures
Tu 3 Feb 5.Bryophyta or mossesThalloid liverworts
Th 5 Feb 6.Bryophyta or mossesPdficon small.gif Notes on moss sporophyte
Tu 10 Feb 7.Anthocerophyta or hornwortsShaw & Renzaglia paper: pages on hornworts;
Pdficon small.gif Hornwort figures
Pdficon small.gif Lab3: Leafy
Th 12 Feb 8. Evolution of land plantsPdficon small.gif article by Qiu et al.;
Pdficon small.gif Land plant evolution figures
Tu 17 Feb 9. Symbiotic associations with bryophytesPdficon small.gif article by Selosse et al.;
Pdficon small.gif Symbiosis hand-outs
Pdficon small.gif Lab4: mosses
Th 19 Feb 10. Lichenized fungiPdficon small.gif Introduction hand outs
Tu 24 Feb 11. Morphology and anatomy of lichensPdficon small.gif lichen morphology.pdfPdficon small.gif Lab 5: Mosses continued and hornworts
Th 26 Feb 12. The photobiont and the mycobiont-photobiont interactionPdficon small.gif lichens morphogenesis.pdf
Pdficon small.gif Read Honegger.pdf
Tu 2 Mar 13. Lichen morphogenesis cont.Hornworts (continued?) and Lichens: introduction
Pdficon small.gif Lab6lichens.pdf
Th 5 Mar Midterm
Tu 17 Mar 14. Lichen chemistry Pdficon small.gif Lawrey1989.pdf
Pdficon small.gif lichenchemistryhandout.pdf
Lichens continued
Pdficon small.gif Lab7lichens.pdf
Th 19 Mar 15. Lichen evolution and classificationPdficon small.gif Lichenevolution hand out
Pdficon small.gif Lutzonietal.pdf
Tu 24 Mar 16. Bryophytes as evo-devo model systemsPdficon small.gif Bryophyte Evo-devo hand outsyou will continue to examine material but you should also begin to identify your collections
Th 26 Mar 17. Bryophytes as evo-devo model systems cont. Pdficon small.gif Menandetal.pdf
Pdficon small.gif Bryophyte genome hand-outs.pdf
Tu 31 Mar 18. Peatland ecologyPdficon small.gif Peatland ecology
Th 2 Apr 19. Peatlands and Global carbonPdficon small.gif Global carbon economy
Pdficon small.gif Chapman et al.pdf
Tu 7 Apr 20. Bryophyte ecophysiologyPdficon small.gif Ecophysiology.pdf
Pdficon small.gif Proctor
Th 9 Apr 21. Ecological significance of bryophytes and lichensPdficon small.gif Ecologicalsignificance1.pdf
Tu 14 Apr 22. Ecological significance of bryophytes and lichensPdficon small.gif 22Ecologicalsignificancehandout.pdf
Th 16 Apr 23. Population genetics and evolution of mosses
Tu 21 Apr 24. Population genetics and evolution of lichens
Th 23 Apr 25. Bryophyte and lichen biogeographyPdficon small.gif Munozetal.pdf
Tu 28 Apr 26. Bryophyte and lichen conservationLAB FINAL
Th 30 Apr 27. Bryophyte and lichen conservation