NonVascular Plants Fall 2015 Student Blogs List

I am thoroughly enjoying this Fall 2015 Nonvascular Plants class!  I am privileged to have a great bunch of interested students!  Here is a first peak at the nonvascular organisms they have collected and keyed through week 7 of the semester.  Below are links to their collection blogs :-) 

http://cornelianonvascular.blogspot.com/
ilovenonvascplants.blogspot.com
nonvascularcollection.blogspot.com
bigworldtinyorganisms.blogspot.com
bryorum.blogspot.com
radagastsgarden.blogspot.com
http://needsomenonvasculartissues.blogspot.com/
nonvascplantjoseph.blogspot.com
mossboss16.blogspot.com
http://lyonsbio213.blogspot.com/

Update:
The Student Blogs above are now complete for the semester!  A great semester!

Student Blogs Created!

I'm so proud of my students!  They have done a great job of setting up their NonVascular Collection Blogs.  Although it was a struggle to identify some of the organisms they collected, they all keyed out
their specimens.
Update:  Student blogs are finished for the 2011 Fall semester.  Below are links to their completed Non-vascular Collection Blogs:

1. http://freshwatermarinealgae.blogspot.com/
2. http://fungusfanatic.blogspot.com/
3. http://fungifeaturette.blogspot.com/
4. http://oliviabenjamin.blogspot.com/
5. http://cucklerkm.blogspot.com/
6. http://frostjk.blogspot.com/
7. http://summerfieldfungi.blogspot.com/
8. http://fallfungi.blogspot.com/
9. http://getachew-nonvascular.blogspot.com/
10. http://vanessalichens.blogspot.com/
11. http://smallandhidden.blogspot.com/
12. http://greenfeetbryophytes.blogspot.com/
13. http://jarvik7-domicrwaveskill.blogspot.com/2011/10/nonvascular-plants-collection-blog-and.html
14. http://bryobiotina.blogspot.com/
15. http://kenbelternonvascollection.blogspot.com/

Specimen #2 Leafy Liverwort

Figure 1: Lophocolea minor with sporophytes extending




Figure 2:  Detail of leaf morphologyof Lophocolea minor in upper left photo, with sporophytes extending, and with sporangia ready to extend from archegonium in perianth in lower right hand photo.

Name: Lophocolea minor Nees
Common name:  Leafy liverwort
Family:  Lophocoleacae

Collection Date:  May 6, 2011

Habitat: Coarse woody debris in advanced stages of rotting in shade

Location: Hiram College Field Station woods

Description: Minute, green leafy liverwort with oval black/dark brown sporangia extending, sporangia continued to extend over 4 X as long over the next day.  Gemmae were evident along leaf margins, leaves notched with 2 lobes, leaves arranged in two rows with a third row of underleaves (amphigastra), leaves succubous.
Collector: Willa Schrlau

Key used: Conard, H.S. and P.L. Redfearn, Jr. 1979. How to Know the Mosses and Liverworts 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill, Boston, Mass.

Keying Steps:

Introduction Key pg. 19

1b.Plants with stems and leaves, the larger leaves in two rows on the stem and a third row of leaves...present, ...sporophyte short-lived.....4

4b. Plants ...leafy,....sporophyte with sphaerical or ellipsoidal capsule...5

5b. Plants slightly flattened, distinctly divided into stem and leaf....8

8b. Archegonia at the end of the thallus, terminating its further growth, with only one developing into a sporophyte, usually surrounded at the base by a perianth.....9

9a. Rhizoids present: ........pg 232 Order Jungermanniales

Key to Families/Genera of Jungermanniales pg. 232

1b. Leaves ....toothed, or divided at tip into 2, 3 or 4 lobes....6

6b. Plants not as above;if bilobed, bifurcate vitta absent...7

7a. Leaves...succubous...8

8b. Leaves lobed or their margins with distinct teeth...16

16b. Leaves not complicate-bilobed...18

18b. Leaves succubously inserted....27
27a. Underleaves of sterile shoots present, .....28
28a. Rhizoids restricted to bases of underleaves, underleaves bifid....Lophocolea pg 250

Key to Family Lophocoleaceae - Genus Lophocolea
1a. Plants 0.6 - 1 mm wide;gemmae in yellow green masses on marigins of leaves and bracts; leaf margins irregular due to presence of gemmae.....Lophocolea minor Nees

"Plants yellowish-green, in mats, on shaded rocks, steam banks, rotten logs, tree bases, Yukon to Ontario south to British Columbia, Columbia, Colorado, Arkansas, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Virginia." (Conrad and Redfearn, 1979)

Links:
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=LOMI7
http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/bryophytes/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=LOPMIN
http://export.nbii.gov/xml/natureserv/html/Lophocoleaceae/0/ELEMENT_GLOBAL_2_126088.html
http://iphylo.org/~rpage/theplantlist/B/Balantiopsaceae/Lophocolea
http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=14556
http://es.mirror.gbif.org/species/13725419

Liverwort Links:
http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/liverwts.html
http://www.bryoecol.mtu.edu/chapters/2-3Marchantiophyta.pdf
http://university.uog.edu/botany/plant_di/marchantiophyta.htm
http://www.eol.org/pages/6864901
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Specimen #1 Lichen

                                               Figure 1: Upper surface of Parmelia showing color, substrate

                                                                 and form of the lichen.

                                          Figure 2:  Dark brown lower surface with mostly

                                                          marginal dark colored rhizines

                                          Figure 3: Lichen taken from the adjacent corticolous substrate

                                         Figure 4: Close up of Parmelia sulcata.

Figure 5: Lower surface with scattered rhizines evident

Figure 6: Close up of upper surface showing white-maculate areas and white edges, gray-green color 

Name: Parmelia sulcata 

Common Name: Taylor Hammered Sheild Lichen    

Family:  Parmeliaceae

Collection Date: 04/18/2011

Habitat: Slightly wooded front lawn, corticolous (bark) on Silver Maple, Acer saccharinum

Location: Geauga County, South Russell, Ohio

Description: Foliose, flattened, gray-green dorsal surface, brown, tan ventral surface, rhizines evident and brown, mostly scattered and near margins, white maculate near lobe tips

Collector:  Willa S. Schrlau

Keying Information:

Keyed using Lichen Identification Flow Chart and Lichen Descriptions: http://lichens.science.oregonstate.edu/lab/flowchart.pdf   Emily Holt. 2003. Oregon State University
http://lichens.science.oregonstate.edu/lab/lichen%20descriptions.pdf
Keying steps:
Color - Top green
Leafy
Mostly Flat
Underside darker
Underside with hairs (rhizines)

Also keyed using Showman, R.E and Flenniken D.G. 2004. The Macrolichens of Ohio. Ohio Biological Survey, Columbus, Ohio.
Pgs. 18- 23  Key to the Genera of Ohio Macrolichens
Keying steps:
1 - Thallus foliose -2
2 - Thallus some shade of gray, green.....4
4 - Thallus thick or thin,m not gelatinous when wet.....6
6 -Rhizines present from lower surface....11
11 - Perithecia absent....13
13- Thallus not umbilicate, broadly attched to the substrate with scattered rhizines; ....on bark - 15
15 - Thallus containing green algae - 19
19 - Medulla white....24
24 - Thallus various, but without paw-shaped....lob tips 26
26 - Lower surface with sparse to moderate or occasionally numerous rhizines....28
28 - .....lobes variable in width 29
29 - Lower surface with a cortex throughout....30
30 - Thallus without pores.....white-maculate 35
35 - Thallus some shade of gray, gray-green.....36
36 - Thallus some gray, gray-green.....in color 38
38 - Lobes generally narrow and linear, 0.5 - 6 mm wide....42
42 - Undersurface black 49
49 - Lower surface smooth, corticate and shiny, black to dark brown near the margins 50
50 - Upper surface with distinct white markings towards the tips of the lobes.....Parmelia
page 142  Key to Species
1 - Thallus sorediate......P. sulcata

Ecology pg 143 (Showman and Flenniken, 2004) 
Common in Ohio on tree bark.  A pioneer species.  Tolerant to air pollution.

Links: http://www.sharnoffphotos.com/lichensE/parmelia_sulcata.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17913083

http://www.eol.org/pages/1032749

Lichen Links:  http://www.lichen.com/

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fungi/lichens/lichens.html

http://www.nbii.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=1555&mode=2&in_hi_userid=2&cached=true

http://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~esslinge/chcklst/chcklst7.htm

http://botany.si.edu/lichens/

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~wetmore/Herbarium/HERBHOME.htm

http://nhc.asu.edu/lherbarium/

http://www.botany.wisc.edu/wislichens/

http://herbarium.usu.edu/fungi/funfacts/lichens.htm

Welcome to Biology 213 Systematics of Non-Vascular Plants!

Course Description from the Hiram College Catalog: Classification, identification,
ecology, evolution, and comparative morphology of non-vascular plants, including algae, fungi, lichens and bryophytes. Emphasis is on the evolutionary development in complexity of
structure and of reproductive patterns. Current concepts of kingdoms of organisms
are also covered. Field work includes identification of bryophytes, fungi, lichens,
slime molds, and algae . Individual projects combine basic ecological principles with
the study of the local flora. Prerequisites: Biology 151, 152, or permission. The breakdown
between lecture and lab hours is for administrative office use only. This course may only
be taken as 4 credit hours.

Location/Time: Lecture: Gerstacker 221 MWF 8:30-9:50                           

                              Lab: Gerstacker 221 Thursday 1:00-4:00

Instructor:  Willa Schrlau    Office:  Gerstacker 203    Phone:  x5297 Email:  schrlauws@hiram.edu

Course Objectives: Nonvascular "plants" are those organisms traditionally studied by botanists because they didn't move about like animals and that lack vascular tissue (xylem and phloem).  This is a tremendously diverse assemblage of organisms.  In fact, some of these organisms are more closely related to animals than to our familiar, and very large, vascular land plants.  This course is an introduction to all those organisms.  They are extremely important, if often overlooked, because they play vital roles on earth.

Thus, the objectives of the course are to:

1. Examine the historical context, both evolutionary and human, of the discovery and understanding of these organisms.

2. Become proficient in identifying as many of these organisms as possible at the J.H. Barrow Field Station and surrounding areas.

3. Learn sufficient terminology and skill to use keys to identify unknown algae, fungi, lichens, slime molds, mosses and liverworts.

4. Create a Non-Vascular Collection Blog containing pictures of your specimens that you collect, ecological and collection data, keying data, and identification information as well as a preserved set of herbarium specimens.

5. Find, read, understand, interpret and apply the primary literature as you prepare an essay on Classification.

6. By the end of the the term, you should know how to identify Non-Vascular Plants, be able to explain their life cycles, as well as their niches in the biosphere, and how they are related to other organisms.

Texts:  Stephenson, S.L. 2010.  The Kingdom Fungi The Biology of Mushrooms, Molds, and Lichens. Timber Press, Inc. Portland, Or.

Kimmerer, R.W. 2003. Gathering Moss A Natural and Cultural History of Moss. Oregon State University Press. Coravalis, Or.

Other Materials Needed: A digital camera, field notebook, pocket knife, backpack or bag, pencils, plant keys for your chosen organism group

Assessment: Quizzes, Homework assignments, 3 Exams, Final Cumulative Exam, Non-Vascular Organisms Collection & Blog, Classification Essay, Participation/Attendance