Abstract Detail

Bryological and Lichenological Section/ABLS

Kosovich, Ye.I. [1], Bardunov, L.V. [2].

H. M. Arnell’s Contributions To Siberian Bryology.

The Swedish bryologist Hampus Wilhelm Arnell (1848-1932) initiated the bryological exploration of Siberia, being the first professional bryologist to collect in the area. As a botanist on the N.A.E.Nordenskiold Expedition in 1876, he traveled from Krasnoyarsk down the Yenisei River to its mouth and back. His rich harvest collected all along the Yenisei and partly Ob rivers mostly in the forested zone and at a few localities within the Arctic (Dudinka and Tolstyi Nos) formed the basis of the monograph Musci Asiae Borealis (Lindberg, Arnell 1889-1890). This was the first publication on the Siberian bryoflora. In all, the monograph listed 96 hepatic and 510 moss taxa. Of these, 90 hepatics and 319 mosses were based on Arnell’s own collection. Until then, the total number of bryophytes known from Siberia was no more than thirty. The accounts of the species included localities, detailed ecological and biological observations. 4 new species of hepatics and 27 mosses, based on Arnell’s collections, were proposed in the monograph. Later studies revealed some of these (notably Aulacomnium acuminatum, Jaffueliobryum latifolium, Mnium confertidens, etc.) occur rather widely in Siberia and some of them circumboreally. Arnell also examined other investigators’ bryophyte collections from various regions of Siberia (F.R.Kjellman‘s from Siberian Arctic, 1878; G.Nilsson-Ehlei‘s from the vicinity of Irkutsk and the lower Lena River valley from Verkholensk to the mouth of the Lena, 1898). A list of 41 bryophyte species (5 hepatics and 36 mosses), described by Lindberg and Arnell from Siberia with their present nomenclature status and brief statement of distribution has been compiled. The total number of bryophytes described first from Siberia is presently estimated to be over 60. Thus, the taxa described by Arnell and Arnell/Lindberg on his and other persons’ collections make up more than half of the total number.

1 - Irkutsk State University, Departemnt of Botany and Genetics, Sukhe-Bator Str., 5, Irkustsk-03, 664003, Russia
2 - Siberian Institute of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, SB RAS, Box 1243, Irkutsk-33, 664033, Russia

Keywords:
Nordenskiold Expeditions
19 century
Beginning of professional bryological exploration of Siberia
H.W.Arnell
Musci Asiae Borealis.

Presentation Type: Symposium
Session: 47-4
Location: Magpie (Cliff Lodge)
Date: Wednesday, August 4th, 2004
Time: 9:15 AM
Abstract ID:896