Biology of Bryophytes and Lichens

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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)

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).

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;
Pdficon small.gif Symbiosis hand-outs
Pdficon small.gif Lab4: mosses
Th 19 Feb 10. Lichenized fungiMosses
Tu 24 Feb 11. Morphology and anatomy of lichens
Th 26 Feb 12. The photobiontHornworts and Lichens
Tu 2 Mar 13. Lichen chemistry
Th 5 Mar Midterm
Tu 17 Mar 14. Lichen evolution and classificationLichens
Th 19 Mar 15. Lichen morphogenesis
Tu 24 Mar 16. Emerging model systems in lichenology
Th 26 Mar 17. Bryophytes as evo-devo model systems
Tu 31 Mar 18. Bryophyte ecology
Th 2 Apr 19. Lichen Ecology
Tu 7 Apr 20. Bryophyte ecophysioology
Th 9 Apr 21. Ecological significance of bryophytes and lichens
Tu 14 Apr 22. Ecological significance of bryophytes and lichens
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 biogeography
Tu 28 Apr 26. Bryophyte and lichen conservation
Th 30 Apr 27. Bryophyte and lichen conservation