Andrew Franks is Wildlife Queensland Bayside Branch next speaker, the topic – The wonderful world of Bryophytes
Friday 27th March at 7:30 PM
Redlands Indigiscapes Centre – 17 Runnymede Rd, Capalaba
The bryophytes, a collective term for moss and moss-like plants, are the second most speciose group of land plants in the world often forming a conspicuous component of many ecosystems. However, they are rarely included in floristic assessments of sites and not treated with the same regard as the other groups of land plants. This is particularly true in Queensland where collectively the bryophytes are 2.5 times more diverse than the gymnosperms and ferns together and represent 10% of the non-algae plant diversity of the State. This presentation is designed as an introduction to the wonderful world of bryophytes and to increase awareness of this forgotten 10% of our flora.
Andrew Franks is a principal botanist and Brisbane manager of O2 Ecology, an environmental consultancy. He is also an adjunct senior research fellow with the University of Queensland where he assists students studying bryophytes. Andrew also curates the Queensland Herbarium’s bryophyte collection. He recently coordinated the 12th Australian Bryophyte Workshop held in the Mackay/Whitsunday region and hopes to one day, when he has some spare time, to undertaken a revision of the leafy liverwort genus Frullania of Queensland.
Wildlife Queensland Coastal Citizen Science 