An Atlas of Recent European Bryophyte Spores

About this book

Language: English

The first edition of this Atlas, published almost twenty years ago, was the only work in this field. There has been a growing worldwide need for a taxonomical and nomenclatural revision and a new edition. Illustrations have been complemented with about 120 new scanning electron micrographs of more than 80 taxa.

In this book all those European bryophyte species have been treated which are important in the circumboreal region. Their spores are potentially recoverable from fossil material, thus being essential paleobotanically. In addition, such species are discussed, whose knowledge may be significant from the viewpoints of the phytogeography, taxonomy and phylogeny of bryophytes. The descriptions of 227 species and their detailed illustrations by original and new photomicrographs are presented.

The new edition can be recommended to researchers who deal with bryology, palaeobotany, palynology and aerobiology.

With this second edition the authors pay tribute to Ádám Boros, the outstanding Hungarian bryologist, who died 20 years ago.

From the foreword:
"This work is an enlarged and modernized version of An Atlas of Recent European Moss Spores by Á. Boros and M. Járai-Komlódi, published in 1975 by the Publishing House of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Akadémiai Kiadó). As the first edition is completely out of stock and the public shows increasing interest for the book, the present authors decided to prepare an enlarged, amended new version illustrated also by more scanning micrographs and complemented by new information on the species, with up to date nomenclature. Better knowledge on spores is important for better understanding of dispersal, life strategies, phytogeography and taxonomy of bryophytes. But other fields of sciences, as geology (stratigraphy), glaciology, palaeontology, palynology, the research of allergens, forest history or even ethnobotany, need the exact identification of bryophyte spores, which often occur in very different deposits, peatland or swamp water or even in the air."

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