TBG Newsletter 9 - May 1995

Contents:

TBG successful Darwin bid
BBS TBG AGM
IAB Conference on Tropical Bryology
Eustace Jones' West African Flora
News of Members
Mulanje Mt. Expedition
New members/Change of Address
Bryologia Africana
Tropical Bryology
Flora Neotropica
Other Publications
Documents
Hepatic List for Sub-Saharan Africa
Moss List for Sub-Saharan Africa
Questionnaire
Next Newsletter

BBS TBG successful in bid for Darwin Initiative funding !

It is far too long (8 months!) since a TBG Newsletter was distributed, but at least I can issue it now with some important news: we have been successful in our application for funding from the UK Government's Darwin Initiative, for three expeditions to Uganda.

At one stage it had been proposed that the TBG should arrange an expedition to Madagascar, but deteriorating conditions in the country suggested this was not the right time (although conditions have apparently improved recently). It had also been proposed that the TBG should consider returning to Malawi, and should apply for funding to the Darwin Initiative for this. As the date for submissions drew near, it had not been confirmed that cooperation from Malawi would be forthcoming, so Nick Hodgetts and Martin Wigginton put together a hurried alternative application for 3 visits to Uganda, with the cooperation of Dr S.M. Byarujali of Makerere University. This was one of only 33 chosen from 214 applications - a credit to the quality of the application (as well as its relative cheapness!). 'The Darwin Initiative for the Survival of Species' is part of the UK Government's response to the Earth Summit at Rio, with the objective of supporting the aims of the Biodiversity Convention by deploying Britain's scientific, educational and technical strengths to assist the conservation and sustainable use of the world's species of plants and animals.

Our project is described in the application as follows:

The Afromontane Region is one of the richest areas in the world for bryophytes but, whilst Mt. Kilimanjaro and a few other mountains have been well explored, many other montane regions, including those in south-western Uganda, are poorly known bryologically. Bryophytes are vital to the ecology of tropical forests. They are particularly important in water retention, absorbing large volumes of water and releasing it gradually to the environment. They are also valuable as a habitat for a wide range of invertebrates. Bryophytes are an important but neglected component of forest biodiversity in their own right. Britain has a long history of expertise in bryology and the BBS has gained experience in East Africa that it would be useful to communicate to African botanists. Training of Ugandan botanists would be an integral part of the project.

The main objectives were given as:

to make as complete an inventory as possible of the bryophytes of the forest belt of the Ugandan Ruwenzori Mountains, Mgahinga Forest and Bwindi-Impenetrable Forest.
to compare the bryophyte floras of these three areas, both with each other and with other East African mountains, in order to put them in context.
to highlight the biodiversity of the study areas and identify the centres of bryological diversity, as a contribution to their effective conservation.
to communicate the bryological importance of the study areas to Ugandan botanists and authorities.
to train botanists from Makerere University in field bryology in order to initiate a centre of expertise and study for bryophytes in tropical Africa.

The proposed programme for the three years is as follows:

May-Dec 1995: Preparatory work for first expedition, including obtaining permits, arranging accommodation, transport etc., and working out itinerary and division of responsibility; formalising arrangements with Makerere University and sending existing relevant literature to Ugandan botanists; working out format of papers resulting from project.
Jan 1996: Expedition to Bwindi-Impenetrable Forest. Objective: to make an inventory of the bryophytes of the study area and to initiate field training for 2-3 Ugandan botanists and conservation staff.
Feb-Dec 1996: Collating and identifying specimens; preparatory work for second expedition (as above). Working with Ugandan botanists by supplying them with further literature and identifying specimens as required; sending specimens to Makerere University as identified.
Jan 1997: Expedition to Mgahinga Forest (subject to political stability). Objective: To make an inventory of the bryophytes of the study area and to continue field training for Ugandan botanists and conservation staff.
Feb-Dec 1997: Collating and identifying specimens; preparatory work for third expedition (as above). Working with Ugandan botanists by supplying them with further literature and identifying specimens as required; sending specimens to Makerere University as identified. Writing up papers as appropriate (e.g. of any new species discovered).
Jan-Feb 1998: Expedition to forest belt of Ruwenzori Mountains.
March 1998-Dec 1999: Collating and identifying specimens; working with Ugandan botanists by supplying them with further literature and identifying specimens as required; sending specimens to Makerere University as identified; writing up findings of project. [Much of the work towards the writing up will already have been done after the first two expeditions.] Output will consist of taxonomic papers and papers relating to the biogeography, ecology and conservation of the bryophytes of the study areas.

Nick and Martin are obviously to be congratulated on making such a persuasive application at such short notice.

Participation. Nick now needs to hear fairly urgently from anyone who is interested in participating in these expeditions, particularly the first one, which is only 7 months away. The grant of £45000 over three years means that individual financial contributions should not be required. Several people expressed an interest in a trip to Madagascar, but with the change of destination it is best if individuals re-affirm their interest (or state it for the first time) to Nick Hodgetts, at JNCC, Monkstone House, City Road, Peterborough PE1 1JY, UK, telephone 01733 866805, fax 01733 555948 (+44 1733... from abroad.)

This will also mean that more people will be needed to help with identification work after the expedition. Please consider this, even if you have no previous experience. We can probably provide literature and reference material to help. Contact me if you are interested.

BBS TBG AGM 24 September 1994

Those attending: Alan Crundwell, Sean Edwards, Len Ellis, Nick Hodgetts, David Long, Royce Longton, Howard Matcham, Brian O'Shea (chair), Ron Porley, Martin Wigginton.

1. Eustace Jones' hepatic flora of west Africa David Long is dealing with the text, and reported that he had had detailed (and very favourable) comments back from Rob Gradstein and Tamás Pócs. There are a number of changes that are needed, largely to bring the text up to date, to remedy omissions and to correct errors. David thought this would probably take him about a year.

Some concern was expressed that Eustace's text should not be transformed beyond recognition, so it was agreed that omissions and errors could be rectified, that new evidence could be added, but that opinions expressed by Eustace should not be changed.

David was asked to proceed on that basis.

Martin had received agreement to use most of Eustace's drawings, as well as Vanden Berghen's, but he was still waiting for some permissions. When they were received he would have a detailed look at all that was available, and see which illustrations needed changing, and how many were missing (about 20 to 50 taxa may not have existing illustrations). It was accepted that a completely uniform style was not essential. One particular problem foreseen was that the existing drawings may not align with the detail in the text. Robin Stevenson had offered to help with any redrafting of illustrations.

Funding did not need to be determined immediately, but fairly soon. The costs were not known yet, but a number of options had been considered. It was decided that the end of 1995 should be the target for completing both text and illustrations, to publish during centenary year.

2. Future expeditions The previous suggestion of Madagascar was now being viewed less favourably because of problems within the country, and the forested areas of Ruwenzori in Uganda was being pursued as another possibility for 1996. Nick Hodgetts had written to Uganda but had so far received no reply. He was hoping the Darwin Foundation might be a source of funding, but the new application forms were not yet available, but should be received shortly. It was thought that this round of funding was likely to be very competitive. It was suggested that a two or three year study should be proposed. There were other suggestions about possible sources of funding, such as National Geographic.

Nick suggested that Jan/Feb or May were the best times to go to Uganda. It was thought that this locality would build sensibly on the Malawi trip. The priority was seen to get a good local contact.

3. Election of executive It was pointed out that the executive didn't actually do anything, but was there in case any decisions had to be made between AGMs. If any meetings needed to be called between AGMs, they would be held as open meetings. There was no objection to the existing members continuing.

4. Any other business Due to the proximity of dinner, the meeting was curtailed at this point, but there was a request for information on progress with Bryologia Africana. Nobody had any recent news, although it was thought that several people were working on revisions intended for Bryologia Africana, both for hepatics and mosses.

IAB Conference: Tropical bryophytes: biology, diversity and conservation , Mexico City, 7-12 August 1995.

I was wrong in stating in the last Newsletter that Tomas Hallingbäck is organising the scientific programme: he is organising the conservation forum, whilst the rest of the programme is being organised by Claudio Delgadillo. A second circular has now been distributed (although unfortunately I didn't receive one). So far as I know, only Nick Hodgetts and myself are going, but if others are, please let me know. I have agreed to give two papers, on "Endemism and biodiversity in sub-Saharan bryophytes", and also one on the "European contribution to tropical bryology"

Eustace Jones' West African Flora

(Update on information in AGM account.) Good progress is being made in revising the text (David Long) and organising the illustrations (Martin Wigginton), and this will be published in 1996 as one of the BBS Centenary Year publications. A publisher is not yet fixed, but the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh is keen to take it on.

News of members

Tamás Pócs returned in November from visiting several African islands in the Indian Ocean, where he was joined at various times by Bob Magill, and in March returned to Réunion, for a holiday.

Jeff Duckett, Howard Matcham and Nick Hodgetts visited Lesotho in January (not strictly tropical, but part of the East African montane region), and are now processing their extensive collections, including the memorably named Quathlamba. [Quiz question: name the only other bryophyte genus starting with Q].

Len Ellis and Alan Harrington (BM) visited Peninsular Malaysia in mid-March for 3 weeks, looking at the bryophytes of Pasoh Forest Reserve, in Negri Sembilan, about 2 hours drive SE of Kuala Lumpur. This lowland rainforest area is an international centre for research, and the objective of the BM visit was to survey logged and unlogged areas of the forest looking for differences in biodiversity using cryptogamic epiphytes. The collections are now being identified.

Roy Perry's work on his collections from Gambia have resulted in one less country with that embarrassing statistic of zero mosses recorded: his list now has more than 20 taxa, and is almost completed. However, he reports that the bryophyte flora is exceedingly poor, and his list is the result of almost two weeks collecting.

Len Ellis reports that BM has an excellent collection of bryophytes made by A.H. Norkett from the Seychelles over several months in the early 70s. Len has identified the Calymperaceae, but there are still thousands of packets, most with field identifications to family or genus, and he would welcome assistance from anyone who would like to help with identifying the collections, or indeed take some or all of it on as a project through to publication. Norkett's notebooks have good detail of the collections.

Professor Paul Richard's unidentified specimens are now being returned to Cardiff, but most have been identified to genus. Anyone revising tropical genera is advised to contact Roy Perry for the loan of relevant material (see address list for contact details.)

Mulanje Mt. Expedition

Work continues on processing the collections, in both sending material off and getting identified specimens back. However, the work has slowed down now that those specimens easily placed in family or genus are identified, leaving large volumes (particularly of pleurocarps and hepatics) still to be processed by the expedition members before being sent to experts for identification/confirmation. An update on progress will be given in the next Newsletter.

Any volunteers would be welcome - no experience needed! We would be able to provide support for anyone who would like to have a go at this.

I gave an update on the current position at the BBS AGM paper-reading meeting in September, including also some preliminary conclusions from my work on the African checklist. Several taxonomic publications are now drafted, and one is ready to send to Jeff Bates for possible publication in J. Bryol.

New Members/Change of address

All UK phone numbers have now changed, and there are also changes of address for Peter Martin and Chris Curtis. In view of this, a revised membership list is included with this Newsletter. I have also added email addresses where I have them. Let me know of any further changes required, including phone numbers etc. to add.

Bryologia Africana

Bob Magill advises that an update on this will appear soon in Bryological Times, and that a positive attempt is now being made to set the ball rolling, and to initiate publications. The intention is to produce small print runs, as cheaply as possible, as treatments are completed, and then to issue them (with further revisions where necessary) as a final book when all parts are complete. Several members of the TBG have agreed to do family treatments (some with no previous experience of doing this). This is a good opportunity to make a real contribution to African bryology. Contact Bob Magill (mosses) or Tamás Pócs (hepatics) if you are interested in participating (see TBG Membership List for addresses)

Tropical Bryology

Volume 10 of Tropical Bryology is now available from Jan-Peter Frahm, if you are not already a subscriber. Contents include my 'Checklist of the mosses of sub-Saharan Africa', as well as papers on the bryophytes of Mount Kenya, Zaire, Hong Kong, China, Philippines, Argentina and Brazil.

Flora Neotropica

Two further bryological titles in this series covering tropical America have now been submitted: Neckeraceae by I. Sastre-de Jesus, and Cololejeunea by P. Tixier, and over 40 other authors are also committed to publications. Rob Gradstein is the Deputy Director for Cryptogams for FN, and this information came from his review of progress in 1994. It contains a full list of which authors have committed to which family, sub-family or genus. I have a copy, or contact Rob Gradstein directly at: Herbarium, University of Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands - particularly if you would like to contribute a paper.

If you want to subscribe to this series, contact Scientific Publications Department, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York 10458-5126, USA. With the 10% reduction for subscribing to the series, the cost including postage for the two latest volumes is $32.48 (Lejeuneaceae) and $16.21 (Stereophyllaceae).

Other publications

I have received details of (but not yet seen) a new book on Mosses and Liverworts of Hong Kong by May-Ling So (170 pages, soft cover, 319 colour photos + 11 SEMs, ISDN 0-962-7350-78-8). It covers 100 species of moss and 56 liverworts. (According to So's checklist in Tropical Bryology 10, there are 119 mosses listed for Hong Kong, so this covers most of them.) Available from Biology Department, Hong Kong Baptist University, 224 Waterloo Road, Hong Kong, price US$30 (postage by air included), local price HK$120. Make cheques payable to May-Ling So. There are discounts of 30% for developing/East European countries, 10% for 5 copies or more, 20% for 10 copies or more.

Documents

The following new documents have been produced:

32 - Newsletter 9 (this newsletter)

There have also been changes to document 9 (list of members-copy enclosed), 11 (the list of documents), and to 21 (Malawi expedition taxonomic responsibilities).

Hepatic List for Sub-Saharan Africa

Martin Wigginton's list of hepatics is nearing completion, but has been delayed by a commitment to complete another project first. The geographic region covered differs slightly from the moss list, in that the Indian Ocean islands are excluded from the hepatics list, as these are covered in a separate publication (now believed to be in press) from Riclef Grolle.

Moss List for Sub-Saharan Africa

This document was completed in late March, and will be published by the time this Newsletter is distributed. Within days of completion I found two references I had missed, and also discovered that one of my new taxonomic combinations was redundant. Subsequently I have seen two more references with relevant information. Updates to the list will thus be necessary, probably annually.

I haven't yet received reprints of the checklist, but let me know if you would like a copy.

Questionnaire

I talk to very few members of the TBG on a regular basis, so I am not sure which TBG members are involved with work on tropical bryology, and which are just interested. Could you please let me know the answers to the following questions:

Are you working on tropical bryology?

If yes: please describe briefly what you are doing.

If no:

Is there a particular field of tropical bryology you are interested in?

If yes: please describe briefly.

If no, I assume you just have a general interest.

Next Newsletter

The next newsletter will be published when there's something to say, so if you have any experience, advice or ideas to share, or you are looking for something to do, get in touch. Please note that I am now also contactable by fax (see below) if you have anything you want to send for the next issue.

Coordinator: Brian O'Shea

Published by: British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group