Written by G. R. L. Greiff, 22 Dec. 2024
Natural history is all about stories. Especially when fieldwork is involved, every collection has unique circumstances that shape it. The fortuitous discovery of my first new species to science, Bryostroma popei Greiff & Cannon, is no exception.
The story takes place on 26 September 2019 on the Isle of Wight, England. Colin Pope, who I owe for helping me get started and maintain my interest in natural history, and I had decided to survey one of the Island’s best ancient woodland sites, Briddlesford Copse. Briddlesford is a private site managed by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species, so visits always require prior planning, with one having to make the most of a day to explore the rather vast area.
I recall it began to rain when I arrived at the car parking place, soon turning into an absolute downpour. We sat in Colin’s car as the rain smashed against the windscreen and contemplated returning home. For bryology and bryo-mycology, this would be a wash-out. Excessive rain makes it very difficult to do fieldwork. However, the rain suddenly ceased and the sun even sneaked through the clouds. Surprised and still somewhat sceptical, we geared up and ventured into the forest.
Briddlesford, as a privately managed site, enjoys being less disturbed than many other woodlands on the Island. Its rides are damp and contain local rarities, including Sphagnum denticulatum and small acidophilic mosses and liverworts growing on bare mud. The northern to eastern borders of the forest are formed by streams, generally with base-rich species on their banks, while the southern parts are drier and are delimited by the railway track of the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. The margins of the railway track are very interesting, with gravelly banks and some interesting base-loving mosses like Bryum torquescens. Overall, the general area is highly varied and contains a number of different habitat types, providing many niches for bryophytes and bryophilous fungi.
In the summer of 2018, I had spent much time surveying bryophytes along stream banks. I was particularly interested in those at Briddlesford, particularly in the most humid parts of the northern and eastern woodland. Neil Sanderson had previously discovered a population of Lobaria pulmonaria, the ‘lungwort’ lichen, on an ancient oak tree in that area perhaps ten years prior. However, when we re-found the tree, still with a small plaque to denote its importance, its trunk was infested with ivy and there was no trace of the declining lichen.
Somewhat disillusioned, I moved on to walk along the streams. These housed various species of Fissidens, mostly, along with Conocephalum conicum and sometimes other common thalloid liverworts. There were also vigorous patches of Homalia trichomanoides and Anomodon viticulosus. I was delighted to find some small patches of Leskea polycarpa, a rarely recorded species on the Island.
Then, I noticed a rather pathetic-looking, bleached pleurocarp on a fallen branch on the ground near the water-level of one of the streams. When I checked it with my hand lens, I noticed many shiny black spots all over the plant. I collected the sample and continued on with the day, having an idea that I had found something new for myself, but none at all that it would be a new species to science.
When I returned home and checked the samples, I determined the host moss as Leptodictyum riparium. The fungus was challenging, especially as my own knowledge of bryophilous ascomycetes was only at its infancy at the time. Eventually, I determined that the collection must be a new species of Bryostroma. But I felt I needed a second opinion, so I sent the material to Paul Cannon at Kew, who agreed it fit the generic concept. We decided to write a manuscript together, which was published in Kew Bulletin in December 2020.
The direction of my life changed dramatically when I got interested in natural history, and I have a number of people to thank for encouraging me on the journey. However, I doubt I would have progressed very far at all if not for the kind guidance of Dr Colin Pope, who was with me when I found the new Bryostroma. I thought it was rather apt, then, to give the new species the epithet, ‘popei‘, in Colin’s honour. Colin’s name is synonymous with natural history on the Isle of Wight, and I was assured that he did not mind that tiny black blobs were named after him!
Although distinctive and with a reasonably sized type collection, there have been no additional records of B. popei in the five years since its discovery. Even when I visited the exact spot the original collection was found in subsequent years, I found no trace of the fungus. It is the strange way of things with these fungi, and we may be surprised to hear of it being recorded somewhere completely unexpected in the future.
References
Greiff, G. R. L. & Cannon, P. C. (2020). Bryostroma popei – a new bryophilous ascomycete from the British Isles, with a worldwide key to the genus Bryostroma. Kew Bulletin 75: 60 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-020-09917-0
Bryophilous fungi 