Biology - Anatomy - Morphology - Herbarium conservation techniques and microscopic preparations
ISBN : 9782897990930
Year of publication : 2021
Nombre de pages : 272
Langue : Anglais
Sphagnum mosses are small plants of the division of Bryophyta that are widespread and abundant in peatlands and several other types of wetlands. About sixty species of Sphagnum mosses are known for the territories of Quebec, Labrador and the Maritimes (with the exception of the island of Newfoundland). However, it can be laborious to identify these plants to the species taxonomic level. This book provides a unique dichotomous key for a visual identification of Sphagnum mosses that will help to demystify the lingo used in botany. To make it easier for identifiers, it also presents ways to recognize species in the field, notes about their habitats, and distribution maps.
This document will be useful to ecologists, foresters, biologists and geographers involved in environmental management, as well as stakeholders responsible for managing the natural resources they protect or exploit. This guide is also intended as a tool for any naturalist or botanist working east of the Rockies, or in the Canadian Arctic. The botanists of the United States will find this document useful for the Sphagnum mosses found in Northern States or in the region of New England.
Gilles Ayotte is in charge of practical work and research in the Department of Plant Science at Université Laval's Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences. He has worked there since 1975. His part-time studies led to a general bachelor's degree, a certificate in andragogy and a master's degree in educational technology, all from Université Laval. He has been interested in sphagnum moss identification since the early 1980s. This led him to build up a bank of over 10,000 photos, mostly under the microscope, of species found in Quebec and surrounding provinces. Over 12 years ago, this bank led to the development of a visual identification guide. The Taxonomy and Sampling Methods in Peatlands course, in which he collaborates, has clearly shown that this guide was a necessity. Testing, corrections and improvements suggested by student-users over the years have made it possible to publish this book today... but in taxonomy, it's always a work in progress!
Line Rochefort has been a full professor in the Department of Plant Ecology at Université Laval since 1992, and is a graduate of Université Laval (1984), the University of Alberta (1987) and Cambridge University in the UK (1992). She is one of the world's leading researchers in peatland ecology. Her interest in sphagnum mosses and other bryophytes developed while working as a summer botanist on the Quebec tundra (1980 to 1984) with the Centre d'études nordiques. Her trainers, Serge Payette and Robert Gauthier, then encouraged her to study with bryologist Dale H. Vitt at the University of Alberta, where she studied the effects of acid rain on peatlands. During a year of study and research in Finland, she became familiar with northern European methods of teaching bryology in the field with Harri Vasander and Jukka Laine. Sphagnum mosses are one of the key components of peat bogs, and Line Rochefort is passionate about studying their biology, identification and the particularities of each species, not only in Quebec, but also elsewhere in North America. Line Rochefort has pioneered a new field of research in plant ecology, namely the development of techniques for restoring peatlands following anthropogenic disturbance.
