The Fissidentaceae are recognized to include a single genus, Fissidens, which is divided into four subgenera, Aloma, Fissidens, Octodiceras, and Pachyfissidens, on the basis of new taxonomically useful characters i.e., peristome type, costa type, and number of files of exothecial cells. Subgenera Aloma and Octodiceras are not subdivided. Subgenus Fissidens consists of sections Fissidens and Sarawakia, comb. nov. Subgenus Pachyfissidens is divided into three sections: Amblyothallia, comb. nov., Crispidium comb. nov., and Pachyfissidens. The most primitive species of the genus are found in section Amblyothallia, while the most advanced species are in subgenera Aloma and Octodiceras. A key to the subgenera and sections is provided.

A comparison of Buellia turgescens Nyl. ex Tuck. with B. badia (Fr.) A. Massal. demonstrates that the two taxa are identical. Both have very similar thalli, identical apothecial anatomy, identical size and structure of the ascospores, and bacilliform conidia. Consequently, B. turgescens should not be included in the genus Amandinea, which was erected to accommodate species of Buellia s.l. and Rinodina s.l. with filiform conidia. Thalli of B. badia show juvenile parasitism on foliose and crustose lichens, but with age become independent. The distribution of B. badia is shown in southwestern North America.

Debate over the synonymy of the European Plagiochila killarniensis and the Neotropical P. bifaria of P. sect. Arrectae has focused on differences in secondary metabolite composition. The broad morphological species concept of P. bifaria proposed in recent papers has now been tested by comparing nrDNA ITS1 and ITS2 sequences of P. bifaria populations encompassing several different morpho- and chemotypes from the British Isles, Tenerife, Costa Rica, Brazil, Ecuador, and Bolivia, with sequences of other species of P. sects. Arrectae, Rutilantes, and Fuscoluteae. Phylogenetic analyses demonstrate that specimens of P. bifaria form a well supported clade within Plagiochila sect. Arrectae. Sequences of P. bifaria from the British Isles, Tenerife, and Ecuador, representing the “methyl everninate” chemotype, form a well supported subclade within the P. bifaria clade. Sequences of specimens from Costa Rica, Brazil, and Bolivia are placed in the basal part of the P. bifaria clade. The data support a broad species concept of P. bifaria. The different chemotypes do not warrant distinct taxonomic ranks. Plagiochila centrifuga and P. compressula are treated as new synonyms of P. bifaria.

Cyathodium foetidissimum Schiffn., an Asiatic species is reported for the first time for the Neotropics. The species is distinguished by the presence of a central multistratose area of cells; oil cells with a single oil body; strongly dimorphic rhizoids; large ventral scales; monoicous condition with an apical, male receptacle flanked by archegonia in undulate laminar involucres; an operculum of 12 cells; upper cells of the capsule with bar-like thickenings; elaters with three bands; and verrucose spores. The closest relative in habit is Cyathodium spruceanum Prosk., but plants of this species lack a “midrib” and have oil bodies and chloroplasts in the thallus cells; it is dioicous and the spores are lamellate-reticulate. Mature male plants of Cyathodium foetidissimum have been found along with bisexual thalli. This is the first report of both types of gametophytes occurring simultaneously in monoicous species of neotropical Cyathodium.

The lichen communities of nine mixed-hardwood sites in the southeastern Missouri Ozarks were characterized from sampling of the ground layer, tree-bases, midboles, and canopy branches. Of the 181 lichen taxa documented, the majority were crustose (55%) or foliose (32%) lichens. Only a quarter (26%) of all species occurred across all four microhabitats, with the majority of dominant taxa demonstrating apparent preferences for a single (38%) or multiple (27%) microhabitat, a given host tree species (17%), or a particular ground substrate (12%). High diversity of ground substrates and a large amount of presumed litterfall in the ground layer were of particular note. Relative species composition and abundance of lichen communities differed in stands with overstories dominated by red oak species as opposed to white oak species, but showed only suggestive variation with aspect class, geology, bedrock, landform, and soil type. Lichen diversity measures were also weakly associated with the presence of individual white or red oak species in the overstory, but no clear patterns appeared with respect to white or red oak subgroups. Stratification by microhabitat and host species would be necessary in future experimental studies in this region.

Lichen floristics and distribution were examined in cool temperate rainforests of Victoria, Australia. Forty sites were sampled, ten from each of the Otways, Yarra Ranges, Baw Baw, and Errinundra regions. A total of 165 lichen species were recorded, representing 38 families. Seventeen species are new for Victoria. Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling showed three lichen groups that corresponded with the rainforest types in which they occurred. A sub-group of lichen species were considered widespread and represented the core of Victoria's rainforest lichen flora.

In 1971, W. A. Weber described Buellia saurina from aeolian sandstone in the Dinosaur National Monument in Utah, U.S.A. In his description, Weber mentioned several characters that are rather unusual for the genus Buellia, especially a lemon yellow thallus and a violet-brown hymenium. Careful re-examination of material at ASU and the holotype from COLO demonstrates that the species does not belong to Buellia, but needs to be transferred to Rhizocarpon. The bright yellow pigment is rhizocarpic acid, a substance not known from Buellia. The asci of the specimens belong to the Rhizocarpon-type. Although the young ascospores are two-celled, they frequently become irregularly muriform with age. The violet epihymenial pigment that can be identified as atra-red, is also unusual in Buellia and currently only known from the taxonomically isolated Buellia vilis Th. Fr. The new combination, Rhizocarpon saurinum (W. A. Weber) Bungartz, is made.

Lophozia kutscheri Grolle is described as a new species of the Jungermanniales in Bitterfeld amber (Oligocene or Eocene) from central Germany. The sterile holotype is clearly visible from both the dorsal and ventral side and has gemmae on the tips of the leaf lobes. The species is compared to the extant L. hatcheri (A. Evans) Steph. This is the first fossil record of Lophozia and the Lophoziaceae.

Lobaria oregana is an epiphytic macrolichen associated with old-growth Douglas-fir forests in the Pacific Northwest. Nitrogen fixation by this often-abundant cyanolichen provides an ecologically significant input of new N to the forest ecosystem. This study estimates annual N₂ fixation by L. oregana using a model based on physiological field measurements and laboratory experiments. Meteorological data from the Wind River Canopy Crane site and the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest are used to calculate annual N₂ fixation rates, assuming that hydration and temperature are the two parameters controlling nitrogenase activity. At the crane site, estimated annual N₂ fixation is 1.5 kg ha⁻¹. In the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest, L. oregana may fix 2.6–16.5 kg N₂ ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ depending on its stand-level canopy biomass. The model's predictions are checked by using published growth rates and standing L. oregana biomass estimates to calculate independent values for annual N₂ fixation at each site.

The roles of bryophyte propagule sources in community composition and structure are poorly understood, but regeneration processes may be critical to the conservation of severely disturbed communities such as those in Acadian forests managed for timber production. Our research objectives were to 1) describe the compositions of the aerial diaspore rain and the buried propagule bank at two locations, 2) compare compositional turnover (β-diversity) among assemblages (i.e., changes in composition across sample units), and 3) investigate potential temporal variability across a growing season within the aerial diaspore rain. A case study approach was used to 4) determine the potential recovery of two extant communities based on available propagules. Compositions of propagule sources were determined by emergence and compared to that of the extant community sampled intensively, i.e., within two grids (1 m² and 1.69 m²) of contiguous 100 cm² cells established on the forest floor of mature mixed forests in southeastern New Brunswick, Canada. Overall, 51 taxa (0–12 taxa per 100 cm²) were found in the aerial diaspore rain and buried propagule banks, 36 taxa (0–9 taxa per 100 cm²) in the extant community. High degree of turnover among sample units and seasonal variability within the aerial diaspore rain indicate that a very intensive sampling protocol is necessary for accurate description of bryophyte propagule sources. We also argue that the emergence method is essential, given the taxonomic richness of these propagule sources. Of the two sources of propagules, the aerial diaspore rain across the growing season was more similar to the composition of the extant community than was the buried propagule bank.

Ten species of Ramalina Ach. are reported from the Kuril Islands, Far Eastern Russia. This is the first complete account of the Ramalina distribution from Japan to the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka. The Ramalina flora of the Kuril Islands represents a unique combination of species found in outlying areas, and the distribution of individual species throughout the archipelago corresponds with changes in island size, proximity to larger bodies of land, and climate.

Previously published accounts of Riccia crystallina in North America, north of Mexico have all been found to represent plants referable to R. cavernosa. This note represents the first verified report of R. crystallina for this geographic region.