Dr. David Wagner, Chief Scientist of the Northwest Botanical Institute
Cost: $300
Nonvascular plants (mosses, liverworts, and hornworts) are found from the coast to the alpine, contribute significantly to a range of ecosystem processes, and are a critical component of Pacific Northwest biodiversity. This workshop is designed to provide amateur and professional botanists with the knowledge and skills needed to develop competence with bryophyte identification. Participants should have some familiarity with botanical terminology. A general knowledge of the basics of bryophyte structure and life cycles would be helpful though not necessary.
Participants will gain fairly intensive practice using contemporary keys pertinent to western North America. Primary focus will be given to the keys in California Mosses by Dan Norris and Jim Shevock, with additional attention to the moss keys in Elva Lawton’s Mosses of the Pacific Northwest. The keys to California liverworts and hornworts by Doyle and Stotler will be the primary text keys for these two groups, and participants will be provided with the most current draft of Dr. Wagner’s Web-based Guide to the Liverworts of Oregon. A laptop computer will be necessary to use these keys in class.
Participants will receive a goodly selection of helpful, mostly unpublished materials to supplement classroom instruction and activities, and a thorough review of online resources and the most useful current literature from other parts of the world will also be included. Dr. Wagner will send a study guide based on the class texts so that participants can familiarize themselves with relevant information and materials in advance of the workshop.
Dr. Wagner will instruct participants in the lab techniques needed to observe the features used in keying and supervise practice of these techniques. The course will be held in a lab classroom with microscopes provided for each participant. Most of the time will be spent in the teaching lab, with an afternoon excursion on the first day for field practice. Participants may join the no host, car pool field trip on Saturday following the course for additional field experience.
To sign up, complete the Workshop Registration Form and use its link to make an online payment through PayPal. Alternatively, you may print the Registration Form and send it to the Washington Native Plant Society by September 1st. For more information, contact Catherine Hovanic at 206-527-3210 or by email wnps@wnps.org
Accommodations: For those needing overnight accommodations there are a number of hotels in the University Village and University District areas adjacent to the University of Washington campus.