dkennedy's Journal

The Evergreen State College. Parking Lot B. 1300 hours. 10 degrees Celsius. We walked along the edge of the parking lot in order to plan our moss walk for the 15th. We had a beautiful walk because the sun was shinning and the moss walk with the public will be a lot of fun. I collected Dendroalsia off of a Maple tree along the trail to the organc farm. I collected Kindbergia praelonga that was growing in a small mat mixed in with a huge mat of Kindbergia oregana. These growing along the cement walkway. I collected Electrified Cat's tail from the same walkway but on the other side. I also collected Aulacomnium from a rotting Cedar stump. This is the first time I was able to recognize this moss in the field. I collected a green, leafy liverwort off of a Maple on the way to the organic farm.

Glacier Heritage Prairie. Thurston County, Washington. 1100 hours. 7 degrees celcius. It snowed last night but has been raining for weeks. The ground is wet and covered in snow. We are here to look for epimerals in the prairie. We recently learned about earlt colonizers and since this prairie is a known disturbed area with fires, we feel confident we might find some rare Bryophytes. I collected a moss from an Oak tree. It was fan moss, green, and feathery. I collected a Polytrichum from the side of the prairie raod. It has clear-white awns with a short, red seta and orange calyptra. I collected a liverwort from the middle of a moss mat off of an oak tree. It was dark green and leafy. Very small and I do not think I have seen this liverwort before.

1300 hours. The Evergreen State College Beach trail. Starting at parking lot F. It has been cold and raining. The morning was beautiful and sunny at 9 degrees Celsius but when we started the walk it began to rain on us and the clouds rolled in. John Villella was our guest today and he took us for a nice Bryophyte walk. When we first began to walk along the trail the habitat was mostly deciduous trees, Salal, and Ivy. We stopped at a Big Leaf Maple tree and John mentioned there were probably 30 species of Bryophytes on that tree. I admired the amount of diversity on just that one tree. We looked at Porella and Orthotrichum. I collected an Orthotrichem off of a fallen Maple twig. I also collected a liverwort that look like it had tiny hands when examined under the hand lens. We passed by an over turned stump and I collected what I have been told was Atrichum selwynii. I will take it back to the lab to determine if that was the correct species. It was a small acrocarp growing amongst many more individuals. We examined the stump and John found many small and somewhat rare mosses. Along the stream bank we examined liverworts and discussed the differences of morphologies among the same family of liverworts and I found that to be very interesting. I collected a red-brown liverwort off of a Maple tree. I also collected a large, green, wet liverwort off of the same Maple tree.

11:00 hours. The park at Fir Meadows. At the end of Canyon Road take a left and it is the very next left after the railroad tracks. It was cold and raining. The temperature was about 10 degrees celcius. It had been raining for a couple of days. I took a quick walk around the park and collected a moss off of cement that I believe lookd like Ceratodon purpureus. Our guest lecturer the other day, Shana, talked about this moss extensively, so I had an idea of what it looked like and the type of habitat it would grow in. The moss was also growing on the ground around the cement.

We arrived at Shadow Lake Bog in Maple Valley around 11:00 hours. It was raining and very cold at approximately 5 degrees celcius. We were taken through several habitats within the bog. Apparently this is spider and bat heaven. We went on the field trip to learn about peat moss, wetlands, and bogs. The first habitat that we entered was a deciduous forest. The vegetation consisted of mostly Laurel, Spruce, Labrador Tea, and White Pine. There was moss everywhere. We passed through Hylocomium splendens, Sphagnum, Dicranium, and Buckiella undulata. I was lucky enough to answer a question correctly and was able to take a special walk along the peat bog. I collected enough Sphagnum for the entire class. I also saw an amazing Reindeer lichen. It was very interesting the different morphologies that the Sphagnum would take. I'm wondering if this was dependant on the amount of water that the Sphagnum was exposed to?

18:00 hours. Near McChord Air Field. Exit 123 from I-5 and take a right off of the exit. Take a left at stop sign. Straight through next stop sign. Take a left at next stop sign. After the first signal after the railroad tracks there is a small gravel vehicle turnout. It is located along the JBLM fence directly across from the airfiled on the right hand side of the road. The weather was cold and cloudy. I could see my breath when I got out of the car. The forest is un-touched by anything around here since it is military property. There is a rich diversity of conifers, Oaks, Alder, and Maple tress. I stopped here to collect because it is on my way home and I can see lush moss mats from my car everyday. I was excited to finally stop. It felt like I shouldn't be there because it is McChord property but no one seemed to mind. I collected a Polytrichum species because it looked different from anything else I had seen before. It was tall and had long, slender, light green needle-like leaves. The leaves seemed more fragile than the Polytrichum I was used to seeing. Also, it struck my attention because of a red patch of the same moss growing inside of a larger light green patch. I am wondering what causes these types of color changes? I have seen it in other species of moss now as well and it blows my mind everytime. I don't know if it has to do with moisture, sun exposure, or something else entirely?

13:00 hours at The Evergreen State College. The weather was clear and sunny at about 10 degrees celcius. It has been sunny for a few days so the moss rooftop garden was dry and basking in the sunlight when I was collecting. The garden is on the 4th floor of the Seminar 11 Building above the E wing. I was collecting for the purpose of identifying species in order to understand what already grows in the garden and what species we might want to add to the garden as part of our group research project. I collected a moss that was growing in the granite rockery as well on the cement. It was a short acrocarp growing in a mat. The leaves were spirally arranged and too tiny to tell if a costa was present. I colleced a moss clump that looked like a green grass clump. The leaves were small and pressed tightly to the stems. I was given a moss while I was collecting that came from another location. The location was described as Lake Cushman in the dried out lake bed. It was growing in a mat but very tightly connected. It had branches with light yellow-green leaves. I collected a pluerocarp type moss from the cement on the roof. It was very small with tighly compressed lanceolate shaped leaves. I collected a Polytrichem species from parking lot B in front of the Lab 1 building on my way back from the roof garden. I also collected an Isothecium species hanging from a Doug Fir branch in the same parking lot.

15:30 hours. From 197th St E., Spanaway, Pierce County, Washington, to Pioneer Ave., Puyallup, Pierce County, Washington. Swan Creek. Travel along creek toward the foot bridge. The weather had been clear and sunny but I noticed that once I was along the creek there was no sun at all. The trees completely blocked out all the sun so it was very chilly back there. It was 13 degrees Celsius where I had parked but only 7 degrees Celsius along the trail. The trail was moist feeling and very soggy. Liverworts grew everywhere. The forest consisted mostly of conifer trees, Alder, and Maple. I collected a moss that was vibrantly red in color. It looked a little bristly like a paint brush dipped in red. It was very pretty. I collected it off a fallen tree along the water's edge. I collected two moss species that look like little ferns. One is soft and bushy and the other is a little scraggly comparatively speaking. I collected a liverwort of the base of a Doug Fir tree. I would love to come back to this are to collect when I have more time. I hope to find more liverworts. This seems to be an ideal habitat for them because they seem to be growing at the base of most of the trees near the water's edge. I wonder how much moisture liverworts actually need in order to thrive like they are down at Swan Creek?

10:30 hours. The Evergreen State College. GPS: 47.065583, -122.975326. From F Lot down the trail to the beach. It has been cold and cloudy and the temperature was around 5.5 degrees Celsius. The habitat was extremely varied as we walked down the trail. We went from one habitat to another with tone of overlap in between. I noticed Doug Fir trees, Maples, Salmon berry, Sword fern, Cedar trees, Ivy, Licorice ferns, and tons of moss. We noticed Atricum solenei which resembled Polytrichum growing at the base of a huge tree which had fallen and was up-rooted. It was explained that stumps and root faces were a common area to find moss growing. I wonder if this is because they are the first to come in succession and what would eventually become of the fallen tree roots if completely left alone? I collected a Rytidiadelphus off of the top of a stump. I collected a Dicranium off of a stump. I collected a moss from a snag tree that looked like tiny flower petals. I wonder what this life form is called? I collected another moss that looked like flowers but was much larger and had huge sporophytes growing out of it. I was able to find female and male samples of this moss. I collected a moss off of a cement slab that was very small and had hyaline awns that were white and pointy. I collected a Hypnum species that had visible calyptra. I collected a moss that looked light green and feathery. I'm left wondering why certain mosses seem to favor certain habitats even though the majority of the environmental conditions are the same and the habitats are only a few feet apart? It was interesting that I could find liverworts thriving on one tree in the forest but within a few feet away they did not grow and continued to not grow in several other areas of the forest.

14:30 hours. The Evergreen State College. GPS: 47.065583, -122.975326.
Collected from the trail between the Seminar 11 Building and Parking Lot C. It was very cold outside, 0.5 degrees Celsius, and there was snow on the ground. It was cloudy but there were a few sun breaks. The habitat consisted of conifer trees and maples. I collected a light green, leafy, feathery moss from the base of a Doug Fir. I collected a slightly darker moss that looked very similar but had different coloring and bushiness. I wonder if these may two different types of Kindebergia or Rytidiadelphus? They both came from a fallen Doug Fir tree. I collected a liverwort that resembled a Porella from a living Doug Fir tree. I collected a moss that looks like a Palm tree. I believe this life form is called Dendroid. It grew in a very large mat on the forest floor. I collected a moss that looked like tiny flowers off of a fir tree. I believe this moss may be one of the common mosses to know. I collected a few different species of moss off of the same living Doug Fir tree. I collected a tiny, bushy feeling moss. Most likely a Bryum species. I collected a moss with sporophytes that had seta and capsule in tack. I wonder if I will be able to dissect the sporophyte in order to help identify this tiny moss? I wonder if these mosses would be available if it was not for the storm? I collected the majority of these off of fallen trees or branches that came down during the storm. I believe that if it was not for the storm, I would not be able to see these mosses.