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Number of Genera as a Potential Screening Tool for Assessing Quality of Bryophyte Communities in Ohio Wetlands

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Abstract

Bryophytes (mosses, liverworts, and hornworts) have numerous advantages as indicators of environmental quality. A quality assessment index for bryophyte species assemblages (BQAI) was developed for the State of Ohio, USA. Reliable identification of bryophytes to species often requires considerable training, practice, and time. In contrast, reliable identification to genera for most bryophytes in Ohio requires much less training. We identified 110 bryophyte species (14 liverworts and 96 mosses) belonging to 69 genera (13 liverwort and 56 moss) in 45 wetlands (27 emergent, 13 forested, and 5 shrub) in Ohio. As expected, there were more genera and higher BQAI scores in forested than in emergent wetlands. Number of genera was highly correlated (r ≥ 0.9) with BQAI in emergent and forested wetlands and for the combined set of wetlands. Number of genera and BQAI responded almost identically to an index of wetland disturbance. The results suggest that number of genera has potential as a screening tool for assessing bryophyte community quality in wetlands in some regions.

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Acknowledgments

D. Lucas provided technical assistance. P. Kocovsky and two anonymous reviewers provided comments on earlier drafts. We thank B. Beck, Z. Bollheimer, J. Buttler, A. Dorobek, B. Harnish, H. Hayter, K. Hillier, J. Korth, B. Macolley, D. Middaugh, T. Morris, K. Penza, A. Rakowski, A. Rector, N. Viau, and C. Weimers for help in the field and data entry. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. This article is Contribution Number 2025 of the Great Lakes Science Center. The contents of this paper/publication are the personal opinions of the author(s) and may not reflect the policy or procedures of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, 4675 Homer Ohio Lane, Groveport, OH, 43125, USA

    William Schumacher & Brian Gara

  2. U.S. Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center, Lake Erie Biological Station, 6100 Columbus Avenue, Sandusky, OH, 44870, USA

    Martin A. Stapanian

  3. Department of Environmental and Plant Biology, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 45701, USA

    Barbara K. Andreas

Authors
  1. William Schumacher
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  2. Martin A. Stapanian
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  3. Barbara K. Andreas
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  4. Brian Gara
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Martin A. Stapanian.

Appendix A

Appendix A

Table 3 List of moss (M) and liverwort (L) species recorded on 40 wetlands in Ohio, USA
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Schumacher, W., Stapanian, M.A., Andreas, B.K. et al. Number of Genera as a Potential Screening Tool for Assessing Quality of Bryophyte Communities in Ohio Wetlands. Wetlands 36, 771–778 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-016-0773-4

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