Diario de homeformosses

2012 March 6 16:45

47*04'40.69"N 122*58*17.71"W 158ft

Location: The forest off of the NE corner of Parking Lot F. Just walk straight into the woods. The are open.

Animals: people and cars. I was here a couple of days ago and I saw a caddisfly on Kindbergia. I only know it is a caddisfly because someone in this class pointed one out, the other day, at the giant ACMA where John Vilella stopped to lecture.

Vegetation: THPL, PSME, some ALRU. VAOV, POMU, and MANE understory.

Species of Moss seen: Plagiothecium undulatum and Hypnum circinale.

General Observation: The understory is sparse so that it's easy to see the mounds made by fallen logs that are past recognition in their decay. I wonder if the understory is sparse because it is drier because of the nearby parking lot and road, or because it is disturbed for the same reasons. Despite all the log mounds, the forest is dark, with few canopy gaps, so low light may be responsible for the sparse understory.

Discussion and question: When I walked into this part of the forest a few days ago, the Kindbergia was glowing it was so green. I remember thinking the same thing a couple weeks ago when I saw what I now know is Claopodium crispifolium on an ACMA trunk. Is the same thing that makes the new growth of Kindbergia spp. and C. crispifolium appear to glow the same that makes Schistostega pennata do the same thing?

2012 March 9

47*04'40.69"N 122*58*17.71"W 158ft

Location: NE corner of F lot. Walk straight into the woods.

Weather: raining, but it's dry under the trees next to the parking lot.

Observations: Isothecium grows very green at the base of THPL. Once again, I'm noticing an obvious boundary where the understory starts. Only when there are breaks in the tree canopy are there POMU and Mahonia nervosa. The trees adjacent to the parking lot are densely packed and younger (smaller dbh). I don't think there has been a natural thinning next to the parking lot yet.

On a downed ACMA log I see Isothecium stoloniferum, Plagiomnium spp., Kindbergia spp., and Mnium spp. Next to the ACMA log, there is a rotting stump covered in K. praelonga and a few salal (Gaultheria shallon) plants. There is a dicot seedling growing out of the moss which I assume is GASH because there is another stump a few feet away with the same plants growing on it and the are both in sunny, open positions. Is there too much light for Vaccinium ovatum or V. parvifolium?

On my way back to F lot, there is a very dark green (pic is much lighter than the plant) Rhytidiadelphus spp. growin on a rotting stump next to K. praelonga. I haven't seen a Rhytidiadelphus spp. this green. I wonder if it's R. loreus.

Hypnum circinale is growing with Scapania spp. on a mid-decay-stage log of a young tree. I think it's PSME-the wood is light and it the bark looks like it hasn't had time to develop deep fissures yet.
Question: I wonder when the log was decayed enough for the Scapania to establish there and I wonder how long the H. circinale has left on the site since it generally grows on the bark of living trees, not logs.

Animals: cars, birds (crows, I think), and a spider on VAOV.

Location: Alder woodland next to a ravine, S of the fire pit where we looked for ephemeral mosses with John Villella

GPS 47*0444.55"N 122*58'43.12 W Elevation 108

Weather: a little sun, about to rain

Vegetation: ALRU, POMU Rubus ursinus, Geum macrophyllum, cleavers (Galium aparine), and patches of invasive grass. I think I see colts foot (Petasites palmatus). Leaf litter everywhere, open and full of light. Licorice Fern on ALRU,

Observations: On ALRU Isothecium stoloniferum, Dicranum spp., Leucolepis acanthoneura, with well developed sprophytes, Mnium spp. Porella navicularis on a leaning Vine Maple. I've never seen Porella growing in isolation like that.

Plagiomnium on the ground.
There's a patch of Rhytidiadelphus growing in the open with Kindbergia oregana. They are both very gold out in the open.

Question: I wonder how the nutrient profile of ALRU litter compares to conifer litter and the dust that falls on trees for epiphytic species?

Location: 4 way intersection of the F lot trailhead

GPS 47* 04'38.73: N 122*58'24.27"W elevaton 154ft

Weather less than 40*F It snowed earlier in the day but it has melted.

Vegetation: PSME, THPL, POMU and GASH understory

Observations: either Kindbergia spp. or Isothecium is growing on the ground in a mat.

There is a fallen branch with Antitrichia curtipendula (? see pic) and some awesome lichens. P. navicularis is also growing nearby.

There is a fallen conifer branch that I can't identify with a liverwort growing on it. The bark of the branch is black and smooth. At first I think the liverwort if thalloid, with lobes like Riccardia spp, but when I look closer, the "lobes" have sporophytes growing out of them and they obscure the leafy liverwort underneath. It's very small and my hand lens isn't clearing anything up. It looks brown.

Animals: birds, 1 person.

Question: Is there an evolutionary advantage to making the perianth of a leafy liverwort look like a thallus of a strap liverwort?

Location: The woods just south of the TESC soccer field.

GPS: 47*04'19.66" N 122*58'01.61" W elevation 164ft

Weather: Raining about 40*F
Vegetation: ACMA POGL POMU

Animals: none

Observations: Ranunculus repens and unknown dicot seedlings are coming up everywhere. Rhytidiadelphus triquestrus on a small piece of ACMA log. Porella navicularis, Metaneckera menziesii, and Isothecium stoloniferum are all robust and producing new growth in ACMA. On a leaning ACMA tree farther back, RHTR is growing with sporophytes (see photo).

Question: I wonder how the growth rates of RHTR differ between the the wet soil of this location and the Alder woodland where it was growing out in the open.