Origins of the Hyperoceanic Cryptogam Flora in the Pacific Northwest

summary of manuscript in preparation for

Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory
 

Dr. Steven L. Jessup
Southern Oregon University Herbarium

 
The hyperoceanic cryptogam flora (HOCF) is a diverse but geographically confined assemblage of bryophyte and lichen lineages inhabiting a spatially fragmented and aerially restricted combination of mesohabitat and bioclimatic conditions, primarily seastacks, prominent coastal headland bluffs, and peaks on the immediate coast. Though relatively few species are entirely restricted to the HOCF, of those that are a high percentage are rare.

This paper will  1) define the hyperoceanic cryptogam flora and characterize attributes of its spatial distribution in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), including an analysis of biodiversity and rarity within the HOCF,  2) review literature pertaining to the biogeography and systematic relationships of key elements in the HOCF of the PNW,  3) develop a predictive model, based in the theory of molecular phylogeography, that explains the origins of the HOCF in terms of competing (testable) hypotheses, and 4) summarize results from research in paleoclimatology and the molecular systematics and evolution of cryptogams that constrain parameters of the predictive model.

This paper establishes the conceptual framework and conservation significance for the International Biodiversity Observation Year Satellite Project, Pacific Northwest Sea Stack Cryptogams.

Links:
Views of hyperoceanic mesohabitat in southern Oregon.

 

This site was last updated on 21 March 2002.
Copyright © 2002.  Steven L. Jessup, Southern Oregon University.