Bryophyte Flora of Jefferson County, Ohio, The

ABSTRACT

A observe of the bryophyte flora, Anthocerotophyta (hornworts), Marchantiophyta (liverworts), and Bryophyta (mosses) of Jefferson shire Ohio was conducted from 1998 to 2004 Jefferson shire (106,416 ha) is located in the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau region. Its eastern border is the Ohio River. Approximately 20% of the shire has been mined for coal since the early 1900's, and 29% has been cleared for agriculture. Seventeen (17) species of liverworts and 1 species of hornwort were rest Jefferson County records for mos species increased from 0 to 115 The mos flora of Jefferson shire is compared to that of other Ohio counties using S??renson's similarity index (SI).

INTRODUCTION

Cooperrider (1961) described the expansion to which the vascular flora was known for Ohio counties, directing futurity activities in floristic investigations. He reported 142 species of vascular plants from Jefferson shire A systematic floristic survey of that shire (Cusick 1967) increased the known flora to 1017 species, or 38% of the estimated 2700 vascular plant taxa reported from Ohio (Cooperrider 1999) Other shire floras were produced (e.g., Curtis 1996) and these and similar works l to the compilation of the Ohio vascular flora (Andr?©as 1989 Cooperrider et al. 2001 among others).

Parallel investigations of the bryophyte flora have occurr and span approximately 150 years, on the contrary few comprehensive works have been produc (eg Snider and Andreas 1996) shire and regional floras were produc by the agency of Fulford (1929), Coles (1933), McCleary (1946) Emmitt (1950) Robinson (1957) and Kellough (1959) Geisy (1957) published a list of Ohio mosse and Miller (1964) published a preliminary list of Ohio liverworts. More new floras of small natural areas have been produc (eg Andreas 2001 Rubino and Vis 2001 Snider and He 1990 Osterbrock and Snider 1985) These works, as well as literature and herbarium searches, springed in the publication of A Catalog and Atlas of the Mosse of Ohio (Snider and Andreas 1996) This catalog contains 400 taxa or about 30% of the total mos flora for North America north of Mexico (1320 species and 109 varieties representing 312 genera and 72 families [Anderson et al. 1990])

County dot distribution maps indicate that the mos flora is unevenly distributed (Snider and Andreas 1996) The Hocking Hills (Hocking County) in southeastern Ohio, with waterfalls and abundant sandstone cropping outs has the most diverse flora, with 215 confirmed taxa. Twelve counties have mos floras of more than 100 taxa; 21 counties, 99-50; 51 counties, 1-49 No mos records had been reported from Jefferson shire (Figure 1).

Miller (1964) provided a list of 122 liverwort taxa and 3 hornwort taxa for Ohio, with a list of counties from which collections were recorded. Four counties have liverwort floras with 85-40 taxa, 6 counties with 39-20 6 counties with 19-10 45 counties with 9-1 and 28 counties had no liverwort collections. He listed three hornwort taxa, each of which was reported from les than three counties.

The intent of this study was to administration a systematic survey of Jefferson shire habitats in order to prepare an annotated list of their bryophyte flora.

DESCRIPTION OF THE research AREA

The area of Jefferson shire is 106,416 ha (Roth et al. 1995) It lies in southeastern unglaciated Ohio (40?°35'N northern boundary, 40?°9'N southern boundary, 80?°52'W western boundary, and 80?°41'W eastern boundary), within the Pittsburgh depressed Plateau and the Monongahela Transition girdle of the Western Allegheny Plateau ecoregion (Wood et al. 1998) Lying east of the Flushing Divide, it is in the Little Switzerland Plateau (Brockman 1998) and is characterized as being highly dissected, with elevation ranging from 196 to 423 m Average local relief is about 110 m in the central part of the shire to around 76 m at the western border. The average difference in elevation between hilltops and the valleys along the Ohio River is 159 m (Roth et al. 1995) Jefferson shire is entirely drained by the Ohio River.

The climate of Jefferson shire is temperate continental, with average winter temperature of -1O0C and average summer temperature of 217?°C The growing season is 170 days ?± 18 days. Total annual precipitation is about 965 cm and average seasonal snowfall is 85 cm (Roth et al. 1995)

The region is underlain with sedimentary stone of nearly horizontal position, laid down during the Pennsylvanian and Permian periods (Roth et al. 1995 Lamborn 1930) Four dominant soil associations (Gilpin-Lowell-Morristown, Westmoreland-Hazleton-Berks, Wetmoreland-Lowell, and Lowell-Morristown-Brookside) overlay approximately 83% of the shire These soils are well drained, and with the exception of the Hazletown and Berks soils, are Alfisols and are classified as mesic Typic or Ultic hapludalfs (Roth et al. 1995)

The pre-settlement vegetation of Jefferson shire was dominated by mixed oak forest (Gordon 1969) These forests were logg and secondary forests now be met with on about 57% of the land surface, and 29% is farmland (Roth et al. 1995) Expos cliffs of sandstones and shales are of frequent occurrence throughout the county along the walls of stream valleys and road wounds Floodplains are inconspicuous features of the topography because the erosion circle of time has not progressed far enough to permit the development of continuous well-defined floodplains (Lamborn 1930) There are no natural swamps or marshes occurring in Jefferson shire (Cusick 1967). There are, however, artificial aquatic habitats made by the agency of roads, railroads and dams.