Bryology

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Branch of botany concerned with the study of bryophytes

title: "Bryology" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["bryology", "branches-of-botany", "bryologists"] description: "Branch of botany concerned with the study of bryophytes" topic_path: "science/biology" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryology" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Branch of botany concerned with the study of bryophytes ::

Bryology (from Greek el, a moss, a liverwort) is the branch of botany concerned with the scientific study of bryophytes (mosses, liverworts, and hornworts). Bryologists are botanists who have an active interest in observing, recording, classifying or researching bryophytes. The field is often studied along with lichenology due to the similar appearance and ecological niche of the two organisms, even though bryophytes and lichens are not classified in the same kingdom.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Bryophyte_1.jpg" caption="Common bryophytes found in central Japan"] ::

History

Bryophytes were first studied in detail in the 18th century. In 1717 the German botanist Johann Jacob Dillenius (1687–1747), later Sherardian Professor of Botany at Oxford from 1734 to 1747, produced the work "Reproduction of the ferns and mosses". The beginning of bryology really belongs to the work of Transylvanian-born Johannes Hedwig (1730–1799), sometimes called the "father of bryology", |last1 = Frederick |first1 = Samuel |date = 15 January 2022 |chapter = Moss (Stifter) |title = The Redemption of Things: Collecting and Dispersal in German Realism and Modernism |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NusiEAAAQBAJ |series = Signale: Modern German Letters, Cultures, and Thought |publication-place = Ithaca, New York |publisher = Cornell University Press |isbn = 9781501761577 |access-date = 13 October 2024 |quote = [...] German botanist, Johann Hedwig (1730–1799), known as the father of bryology and the 'Linnaeus of mosses,' [...]. who clarified the reproductive system of mosses in 1782 in his Fundamentum historiae naturalis muscorum frondosorum |last1 = Hedwig |first1 = Johannes |author-link1 = Johann Hedwig |year = 1782 |title = Fundamentum historiae naturalis muscorum frondosorum: concernens eorum flores, fructus, seminalem propagationem. Adiecta generum dispositione methodica, iconibus illustratis |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MCNjvwEACAAJ |language = la |publication-place = Leipzig |publisher = Siegfried Lebrecht Crusius |access-date = 13 October 2024

and arranged a taxonomy.

Research

Areas of research include bryophyte taxonomy, bryophytes as bioindicators, DNA sequencing, and the interdependency of bryophytes and other plant, fungal and animal species. Among other things, scientists have discovered parasitic (mycoheterotrophic) bryophytes such as Aneura mirabilis (previously known as Cryptothallus mirabilis) and potentially carnivorous liverworts such as Colura zoophaga and Pleurozia.

Centers of research in bryology include the University of Bonn in Germany, the University of Helsinki in Finland and the New York Botanical Garden.

Journals

The Bryologist a scientific journal began publication in 1898, and includes articles on all aspects of the biology of mosses, hornworts, liverworts and lichens and also book reviews. It is published by The American Bryological and Lichenological Society.

The scientific Journal of Bryology, renamed in 1972 from its original name of Transactions of the British Bryological Society that commenced in 1947, is published by the British Bryological Society.

Recognized bryologists

References

Literature

  • Meylania, Zeitschrift für Bryologie und Lichenologie
  • Limprichtia, Zeitschrift der Bryologischen Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutschlands

References

  1. "Bryology at the New York Botanical Garden". New York Botanical Garden.
  2. (2008). "Origin and relationships of the myco-heterotrophic liverwort Cryptothallus mirabilis Malmb. (Metzgeriales, Marchantiophyta)". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.
  3. (2005). "Evidence of Zoophagy in a Second Liverwort Species, Pleurozia purpurea". The Bryologist.
  4. (22 January 2016). "Zoophagous Liverworts?".
  5. "The Bryologist on JSTOR".
  6. "The Bryologist".
  7. "Journal of Bryology". Taylor&Francis.

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