NEWS

The workshop was success. More than 400 species were redlisted!
A report is soon coming.

[070522] 
Biennial report  
from the Bryophyte Conservation Committee members

Biennal report (html) »
Download report (pdf) »

New Candidates 
for the IAB/IUCN World Red List of Bryophytes

Since the year 2000, several new species names have been suggested to IAB Committee on Endangered Bryophytes for additions to the World Red List of Endangered Bryophytes. However, no species has hitherto been added officially to the 2000’s Red List. This is mainly because we have wanted the assessment process to be thorough and careful, so that we can avoid adding species to the list which do not really qualify.
The time has come to take the next step and assess if these candidates can de accepted and approved by the IAB Standing Committee for Endangered Bryophytes and the IUCN Bryophyte Specialist Group (International Union of Conservation of Nature).
At the same time, we have also received suggestions of a few species on the 2000’s red list that should be removed from the Red List, or at least down-graded into a less endangered category based on new information.
To initiate the revision process, we are publishing these additional candidates here, and we welcome comments from all of you. The list of species nominees for addition, or deletion, will need specially the feedback from authority and specialist who have the up-to-date information and relevant knowledge regarding these species, and we are therefore very thankful for any responses that we will receive.
As before, the selection of the most endangered bryophyte species should be based on the following criteria:

1) the species is considered to be threatened on a world-wide scale;
2) the species is confined to more or less threatened habitats;
3) the species has a limited distribution; and,
4) not presumed to be overlooked or under-collected; and,
5) the taxonomy of the species should not be dubious or controversial.

Please send your comments to either one of us:

Tomas Hallingbäck, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 7007, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden (email: tomas.hallingback@artdata.slu.se);

Dr. Benito C Tan, School of Biological Sciences, National Univ. of Singapore, Singapore; 119260, Singapore (email: dbsbct@nus.edu.sg).

rofessor Jirí Vána, Department of Botany, Charles University, Benátská 2, CS-128 01, Praha 2, Czech Republic (email: vana@natur.cuni.cz). 

The current Global Red List can be found on:
http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/worldbryo/BryoList.html or at http://www.artdata.slu.se/guest/SSCBryo/WorldBryo.htm 

Species suggested to be REMOVED 
from the Global Red List: 
Dactylolejeunea acutifolia - conspecific with Lejeunea paucidentata (J. Hattori 89: 37, 2000);
Orthotrichum scanicum Grönv. – it is shown today to be widespread in South Europe (prof. Ricardo Garilleti, pers. comm.).

NEW Species nominated for additions to the list of 2005’s IAB and IUCN Global Red List of most endangered bryophyte species:
PLEASE, all comments are welcome. Contact tomas.hallingback@artdata.slu.se

HEPATICAE & ANTHOCEROTAE
Cephalantholejeunea temnanthoides
Cheilolejeunea gaoi
Cololejeunea filicis
Cololejeunea pluridentata
Dendroceros canaliculatus
Drepanolejeunea spinosa
Frullania sergiae
Frullania tubercularis
Leptolejeunea truncatifolia
Megaceros aenigmaticus
Metzgeria maegdefraui
Notothylas galapangesis
Porella obtusiloba
Riccia alatospora
Schistochila macrodonta
Trichocoleopsis tsinlingensis

MUSCI
Andreaea morrisonensis
Anomodon dentatus
Buxbaumia punctata
Cyrtopodendron vieillardii
Distichophyllum meizhiae
Fissidens appalachensis
Fissidens beccarii
Fissidens geijskesii
Franciella spiridentoides
Gradsteinia andicola
Grimmia mauiense
Grimmia ochyriana
Helicoblepharum daltoniaceum
Horikawaea redfearnii
Hypnodontopsis mexicana
Hypnum shensianum
Lepidopilum angustifrons
Leptodictyum kurdicum
Leucodon morrisonensis
Macromitrium fortunatii
Microdus sinensis
Miyabea rotundifolia
Oreoweisia setschwanica
Orthomitrium tuberculatum
Orthotrichum shevockii
Orthotrichum spjutii
Polytrichadelphus abriaquiae
Pseudochorisodontium mamillosum
Pseudopterobryum tenuicuspis
Pterobryon excelsum
Rhodobryum laxelimbatum
Spiridens camusii
Symphyodon yuennanensis
Takakia lepidozioides
Triquetrella californica
Zygodon forsteri

Progress on new European checklist

A new European checklist is under preparation. It will hoppefully be published in dec 2005. Read more on the Euromoss home page.

Red List Conference in Shanghai

A successful workshop on the first official red list of endangered Chinese bryophytes

 B.C. Tan, Tong Cao, Rui-Liang Zhu and T. Hallingbäck 

A historical workshop for Chinese bryologists took place in December of 2004 in Shanghai to discuss and produce the first official red list of the most endangered Chinese bryophytes.  

The meeting was held from Dec 13 to 17 at the Shanghai Normal University, with Profs. Cao Tong and Zhu Rui-Liang as the two main organizers.  The workshop was attended by 16 resident Chinese bryologists and six invited foreign guests, namely, Drs. Z. Iwatsuki from Japan, B.C. Tan from Singapore, T. Hallingbäck from Sweden, Xiao-Lan He-Nygrén from Finland, M. Richardson from UK, and Mr. Uwe Swartz from Germany.  A group picture of the attending participants was taken to commemorate the workshop occasion (see photo 1). 

 With a large and diverse bryoflora of more than 3,000 species and occupying a strategic geographical position in Continental Asia, China has, to date, no official red list of endangered bryophytes published for protection consideration.  Hence, it is of great conservation significance that a workshop, with the main goal to identify and document the most endangered bryophytes in China today, was carried out after more than a year of planning and preparation.  The Shanghai workshop was funded by the Shanghai Normal University, the International Association of Bryologists (IAB), the IUCN Bryophyte Commodity Group, the Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), the Tan Chin Kee Foundation, and the Office of Lady Yuen Peng McNeice (Singapore). 

 The Shanghai workshop consists of two components, namely, two separate half-day sessions of talks at the opening and closing programs which were opened to public and attended each time by more than 30 students and professionals from the bryological and university circles in Shanghai, and a two-days closed door session identifying the endangered bryophytes in China.  Four lectures with theme relevant to the workshop (see appendix 1) were given at the opening program in the morning of Dec 13 after the brief welcome speech delivered by the President of Shanghai Normal University, Prof. Yu Li-Zhong, and followed by encouraging words from the IAB President, Prof. R. Gradstein, read in proxy by IAB Vice-President, Prof. Z. Iwatsuki.  Another three lectures on the ecology, phylogeny and conservation of bryophyte diversity in China were likewise given at the closing program.  The climax of the workshop came with the reading of the names of chosen members of the first red list of endangered Chinese bryophytes by Prof. P.-C. Wu from the Institute of Botany of the Academia Sinica in Beijing.  

 The birth of the first official red list of endangered Chinese bryophytes has not been easy.  Being a group of least economically important plants, the need and necessity to protect the threatened bryophytes in China have been overlooked.  Past attempts to assess and decide on the listing as a group effort at a national meeting have not received attention and support.  Consequently, the timely approval of a project proposal to this effect submitted by Cao Tong and B.C. Tan at the IAB meeting held in Merida of Venezuela in January of 2004 was a big breakthrough.  

 In order to assure the success of the workshop, in June of 2004 the two Chinese organizers sent out the formal invitation to all active bryologists/colleagues in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, announcing the event and outlining the goals of the workshop.  Together with the invitation were copies of the IUCN criteria and screening procedures adopted worldwide for the selection of endangered plants and animals.  These IUCN documents were translated into Chinese language and mailed out to serve as reference materials.  The workshop participants also were requested beforehand to submit by November a list of no more than 15 names of what they have perceived individually to be the most endangered bryophytes in China today based on their knowledge and field observation.  These pre-workshop assignments done by the participants formed the basis of a lively and lengthy discussion during the workshop.   

 Before the start of the closed-door session, the 16 Chinese participants first agreed to a set of modified IUCN principles and criteria to follow in choosing the candidates for the first red list of Chinese bryophytes.  After much debate and sometimes heated exchanges of opinions, the resulting consensus was to exclude from the consideration, for the time being, (1) new species that were published recently within the past five years (unless the taxon has been well investigated), (2) species that have not been revised taxonomically for decades, and (3) species with controversial taxonomic problem or of doubtful taxonomic status.  In retrospect, the workshop was a fruitful exercise of intellectual, objective, and at times revealing, discourses about the known bryophyte distributions in China, causes of their habitat endangerment, and what need to be done after the production of the first official red list.   

 After the successful conclusion of the workshop, the Chinese participants were taken on a sight-seeing tour to witness the fast changing urban landscape of modern day Shanghai City, which includes a visit to the famous Shanghai shopping district along the Nanjing Road, while the foreign participants were invited to go on a one day field trip to look at indigenous bryophytes at the nearby West Tianmu Nature Reserve.  This forest reserve, not only is famous for its many ancient Buddhist temples, but also is known worldwide for its highly publicized individual trees of Chinese species of Cryptomeria dated more than 1,000 years old, and an alleged wild population of Gingko biloba in China today.   

 As proclaimed at the closing ceremony of the workshop, the first red list of endangered Chinese bryophytes consists of 82 species (50 mosses, 31 liverworts, and one hornwort) in 75 genera and 41 families.  Of these, 36 are classified as critically endangered (CR), 29 as endangered (EN), and 17 as vulnerable taxa (VU), following the modified IUCN criteria.  The list includes several Chinese and regional endemics with narrow ranges, as well as those of high and unique bryological interests.  They are Andreaea morrisonensis, Ascidiota blepharophylla, Buxbaumia punctata, Cheilolejeunea gaoi, Dicranum mammillosum, Diphyscium satoi, Distichophyllum carinatum, D. meizhii,  Ditrichopsis gymnostoma, Horikawaea redfearnii, Horikawaella rotundifolia, Hypnum shensianum, Kurzia sinensis, Macromitrium fortunatii, Neotrichocolea bissettii, Oedipodium griffithianum, Orthomitrium tuberculatum, Pseudopterobryum tenuicuspis, Scaphophyllum speciosum, Sciaromiopsis sinensis, Takakia ceratophylla, T. lepidozioides, Trichocoleopsis tsinlingensis and Xenochila integrifolia, to name a handful.  In addition, a separate list of 25 species of bryophytes that are deemed endangered at present, but with insufficient data, was also formulated for further consideration.  The complete report of the first Chinese red list, with detailed information on the taxonomy, local distribution, ecology, and habitat endangerment, as well as relevant literature citations, will be published separately in a bryological journal.  The list will also be submitted through channels to the Beijing office of national committee on the conservation and protection of Chinese endangered plants/flora for official recognition.   

 Indeed, the Shanghai workshop is now a historical landmark in bryology in China.  It has contributed, in a small but meaningful way, to the international effort pioneered by IAB and IUCN to protect the surviving bryophyte diversity of the world.  But the birth of the red list in a country, or for that matter, in a region, is but the first critical step towards achieving the final goal.  This comment was mentioned repeatedly by the speakers at the workshop.  Indeed, much work is still needed to generate public awareness and to mobilize all the available local, national and international resources to fight to save the Chinese and the world bryophytes from meeting their extinction.       

Appendix 1.  Program of the IAB Workshop on Endangered Bryophytes in China Held at Shanghai Normal University (Dec 13 –16, 2004) 

Organizers: Profs. Cao Tong and R.-L. Zhu  

Sponsoring Institutions: Shanghai Normal University

                      The Botanical Society of China (BSC) 
                      International Association of Bryologists (IAB)
                      Botanical Gardens Conservation International (BGCI)
                      The Tan Chin Kee Foundation
                      The office of Lady Yuen Peng McNeice Office (Singapore)  

Dec 12 (Sunday) – Arrival of visitors and participants

Dec 13 (Monday)

8-9 am - Registration

9-12 noon – Opening program (public invited)

9-9.15 am – Welcome Speech by President of Shanghai Normal University

                      9.15-9.30 am – Welcome Remarks by IAB President, Prof. Zen Iwatsuki.

                      9.30-9.45 am – The Shanghai workshop: its significance, procedures and

goals by Prof. Cao Tong, Shanghai Normal University. 

                      9.45-10 am – A Role for Botanic Gardens in the Conservation of Chinese

Bryophytes by Dr. Mark Richardson, Director, Asia and Middle East

Programme of Botanic Gardens Conservation International, United

Kingdom. 

                      10-10.30 am – Threatened bryophytes of Japan: how we made Red Data

Book? by Prof. Zen Iwatsuki, The Hattori Botanical Laboratory, Okazaki

Branch, Japan.

                      10.30-11 am – Coffee Break

11-11.30 am – The IUCN categories on endangered bryophytes – the

European experience by Tomas Hallingbäck, Swedish University

of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden; IAB Chairman of Committee on World

Endangered Bryophytes

                      11.30-12 noon – Open forum

                      12-2 pm – Lunch Break        

                      2-6 pm – Closed-door workshop on the selection of most endangered Chinese

bryophytes; participation by invitation.

Dec 14 (Tuesday) – Closed-door workshop on the selection of endangered Chinese

Bryophytes; participation by invitation.

Dec 15 (Wednesday) –

                      9-12 noon – Closed-door workshop on the selection of endangered Chinese

bryophytes; participation by invitation.

                      12-2 pm – Lunch break

2-5.30 pm – Closing program (open to public)

2-2.30 pm – The biodiversity and conservation of mosses in Karzt Formation

in Guizhou Province of China by Prof. Zhang Zhao-Hui, Guizhou

Normal University, Guiyang City, China

                      2.30–3 pm – A phylogenetic prospective on the evolution of liverworts

                                            by Dr. Xiaolan He-Nygrén et al., Botanical Museum, Finnish Museum of

Natural History, University of Helsinki, Finland

                      3- 3.30 pm – Selection of hotspots of bryophytes diversity for protection

                                            by Prof.. Benito C. Tan, Department of Biological Sciences, National

University of Singapore, Singapore

                      3.30 - 4 pm – Coffee Break

                      4- 4.30 pm – Announcement of the first official Red List of endangered

Chinese bryophytes by Prof. Wu Peng-Chen, Institute of Botanical

Research, Xiangshan, Beijing.

                      4.30-5 pm – Open Forum and Discussion

                      5-5.15 pm – Closing Remarks

                                            by Prof. Cao Tong, Shanghai Normal University and Tomas Hallingbäck

                      5.30 pm – End of workshop