Lichens and Bryophytes

The tiny Buxbaumia minakatae capsule is about 1.5 centimeters tall. Only one other collection from New England has been made in the last 50 years. Photo courtesy of Bob Klips.

Where Forests Begin

By James Reddoch 

Recently, Jeff Pengel, a botanist specializing in Maine lichens & bryophytes (mosses, liverworts, & hornworts), invited me to take a look through his microscope at a sample he had collected during the Tuckerman Lichen Workshop and the Crum Bryology Workshop held in Bethel. 

Peering through the eyepieces, I experienced a whole new world. It was like looking down on a tropical rain forest. Strands of moss sprouted from a clump of soil and leaf duff and intertwined their scaly trunks, forming a dense forest. Darting and wiggling here and there was a menagerie I did not know - squiggling nematodes, lumbering tardigrades, and whirling rotifers. There was an unseen world in this one tiny sample. 

A new species of the crustose lichen Lopadium was discovered in Grafton Notch. The new species description will be published soon. Photo courtesy of Jeff Pengel. 

Jeff had helped organize the joint workshop and converted the ballroom at the Bethel Inn into a temporary field laboratory. Over 40 participants had set up their own workstations with an array of microscopes, field guides, and technical references for identifying  the specimens they collected each morning. The group was just back from a foray in Grafton Notch, and there was a buzz in the room. 

Already, the team had identified one moss specimen that had only been found once before in Maine. Dr. James Lendemer, Curator of Botany at the New York State Museum, whizzed by with a lichen that, until now, was undescribed by science. 

“It wasn’t that people hadn’t seen this type of lichen before,” he explained, “But it has not been described using the Linnean binomial nomenclature.” He held up a petri dish that contained a gray-green blob. “Twenty  people focused means you find things that otherwise go unobserved.”

“If you are protecting the forest, you are protecting this base layer that is necessary for forest health.”

To my untrained eye it looked like – well, like any other lichen. It turns out that is to be expected. Many mosses and lichens can’t be identified in the field. They have to be brought back to the lab for identification. 

Jeff and other scientists were eager to share about the role mosses and lichens play in the forest - even if we don’t know what we are looking at or the name of what we are seeing. They explained that, though mosses and lichens may appear small and insignificant, they form a hidden foundation upon which a forest thrives – a forest within a forest. 

Scientists spent their evenings identifying the specimens they collected during the day in the microscope room at the Bethel Inn. Photo courtesy of Jeff Pengel.

They hold moisture, provide the key plant nutrients nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, are home to countless invertebrates which serve as the base of the food chain, and act as a seed bed sheltering the next generation of trees, shrubs, and plants. These small things play an outsized role in the ecosystem. Understanding that this is where the forest starts is also understanding that this is where conservation starts. 

“If we thin trees too much or fragment the forest too much, we are eliminating this nutrient building layer as well,” Jeff explained. “If you are protecting the forest, you are protecting this base layer that is necessary for forest health.” 

I left the workshop walking across the Bethel common. I noticed moss in the sidewalk cracks. Trees were dusted with powdery yellow lichens. Others hosted leathery green-gray masses or white bullseye patterns. I may never learn the names of these mosses and lichens, but my eyes are now opened. Looking through a microscope showed me a forest I had never imagined.

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