A collection stuff on bryophytes, evolution, and genetics
Bryo cultures have to be watered and that can be tricky! I tend to water mine by spraying them or by pouring on distilled water. This can cause problems when a culture is started from small material such as individual gemmae, bulbils, or tubers, which can easily be displaced. Also, these small diaspores can easily … Continue reading Dessert containers again
In my last post on growing bryophytes in takeaway boxes, I said that my bryo cultures are not axenic monocultures. A good example is my tub of Mnium hornum, shown in the photo above, which has turned into little ecosystem. Last summer, I collected a small clump of M. hornum from the base of a … Continue reading Bryo-eating mites?
Using ceramic pots was a cute way of cultivating bryophytes and may be a good way of making bryo gifts, but I found that the pots' high rims make manipulations cumbersome. Because the rims are not transparent, they also cut out light, which bryophytes might otherwise use to grow, and they can cause shading under … Continue reading A better cultivation method
Lunularia cruciata, the crescent-cup liverwort, in a dessert pot. The blog has gone suspiciously quiet and you may have guessed that my initial cultivation attempt did not go too well. Washed sand without added nutrients turned out not the be a great substrate, and my pots did not exactly flourish. I re-started last year in … Continue reading What happened to the pots?
Never go shopping hungry, my partner tends to say! Last time we went shopping hungry, we came back with heaps of delicious things including two little ceramic pots filled with a salted caramel dessert. The dessert was great and the pots are, too. With my recently started hobby of bryo cultivation, I did not have … Continue reading Two thalloids in pots – The Common and the Crescent-cup Liverwort
Recently I started growing bryophytes at home! I thought it would be a fun project and that it will provide me with material to play around with. Apart from the joy of growing something, there are several other good reasons for cultivating bryophytes. The cultivation of a species allows you to observe its development. Being … Continue reading Bryo cultivation – First attempts
Everybody seems to know that DNA, genes, and genomes are made up of the four letters A, T, G, and C. But how many of these are there in a genome? Do different species have different genome sizes? What is the situation in bryophytes? And, how much DNA is there in a whole bryophyte plant? … Continue reading How much DNA is there in a bryophyte?
Bryophytes are wonderful plants and I would like to think that I do not need to do much canvassing on their behalf. Besides being fascinating in their own right, bryophytes have some properties that make them the ideal study objects for genetic research. In this post, I am going to tell you why. Small sizeFirst … Continue reading Why genetics is great for studying bryophytes
When asked what genetics is, people often answer about DNA, genetically modified organisms, disease, and what makes us what we are. Genetics has to do with all of these points, but they are just aspects, and the bigger picture is much more exciting. In this post, I want to outline the scope of genetics and … Continue reading Genetics?
Hello world! This is Hannes Becher writing. I am a geneticist who is enthusiastic about bryophytes and evolution and you shall soon hear more about these topics! Currently, I am a postdoc in Alex Twyford's plant evolution and genomics lab at the University of Edinburgh, where I work on eyebrights. These are parasitic flowering plants, which you may also hear about in the future. During my … Continue reading What this is going to be about…
