The moss family Calymperaceae The moss-ladened trunk of a coconut palm near the coast on the island of Moorea, French Polynesia, in the vicinity of U C Berkeley's Gump Research Station. Several different species in the moss family Calymperaceae are growing at the Field Station. Species in this family are the dominant epiphytes in tropical lowland forests. The systematics and evolution of this family is the subject of a large National Science Foundation grant awarded to Professor Brent D. Mishler's lab in the Department of Integrative Biology under the PEET program (Partnerships for Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy). Photo submitted by Brent D. Mishler.

Principal Investigator: Brent D. Mishler  bmishler@socrates.berkeley.edu,  University of California, Berkeley Collaborators: William D. Reese wdr5583@usl.edu,  University of Southwestern Louisiana  Daniel H. Norris danorris@linknet.kitsap.lib.wa.us, University of California, Berkeley  Haji Mohamed Abdul Majid haji@botany.um.edu.my, University of Malaya  Heinar Streimann Heinar.Streimann@ea.gov.au, Australian National Botanic Gardens Benito Ching Tan sbsbct@nus.edu.sg, National University of Singapore Graduate students: Kirsten Johannes  (University of California, Berkeley) kirstenj@socrates.berkeley.edu Dennis Wall  (University of California, Berkeley) dpwall@socrates.berkeley.edu Webmaster Programmer/Analyst:   Sean Askay University of California, Berkeley Project Emeriti: John Wheeler (Postdoctoral Associate) University of California, Berkeley Tony Morosco (Botanical Programmer/Analyst) University of California, Berkeley Raymond Tangney (Visiting Scholar April-May 1998) ray@phyton.otago.ac.nz, Department of Botany, University of Otago, New Zealand Elaine Cheung (Undergraduate - UC Berkeley) echeung@uclink4.berkeley.edu Randy Clayton (Undergraduate - UC Berkeley) jclayton@autobahn.org Dave DesMarais (Undergraduate - UC Berkeley)   Amy Tang (Undergraduate - UC Berkeley) amtang@uclink4.berkeley.edu Danica Harbaugh (Undergraduate - UC Berkeley) littlelemur@excite.com

This research involves a particular bryophyte study group, the moss family Calymperaceae, chosen to allow us to achieve three goals: (1) Train students in the full breadth of systematic techniques; (2) Provide useful monographs of important groups; (3) Address issues of theoretical and conceptual interest in biogeography and evolutionary diversification.

The research focuses on three levels: (1) The circumscription and higher-level relationships of the family Calymperaceae; (2) Relationships of the genera (and major sections) within the family (the major goal being to verify the monophyly of Mitthyridium and select a few other monophyletic subgroups of the family for monographic study); (3) Species delimitations and relationships within the selected subgroups (e.g., Mitthyridium) culminating in world monographs. At all these levels, but particularly in the latter, we are also considering biological, ecological and geographic facters influencing diversification.

This research involves field and herbarium studies to discover and refine taxonomic characters useful at all three levels. Laboratory studies including SEM, morphometrics, culture studies, and DNA sequencing are being used to supplement the morphological data. The project includes training in these areas at the undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels.

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