Soderstrom, , N. A. KONSTANTINOVA, A. HAGBORG, T. PRESTO, K. HASSEL & M. VON KONRAT, N. A. KONSTANTINOVA, A. HAGBORG, T. PRESTO, K. HASSEL & M. VON KONRAT

356 L SÖDERSTRÖM, N.A. KONSTANTINOVA, A. HAGBORG, T. PRESTØ, K. HASSEL & M. VON KONRAT bard derived from all published references that we are aware of as well as some new regional records for Svalbard.

RECENT EXPLORATIONS

The earliest record of bryophytes from the archipelago was by Phips (1777) who reported five mosses and two liverworts. The bryological exploration from the earliest time to 1875 is described by Frisvoll & Elvebakk (1996), who also made good comments on later sources.

Recent bryological exploration is scattered, but three main projects resulting in the increase of the knowledge of liverwort distribution on the islands should be mentioned.

Arne Frisvoll made three main visits to the archipelago between 1973 and 1977. The “Man and the Biosphere Programme” (MAB) focusing on Svalbard reindeer ecology included mapping of flora and vegetation making it possible for Frisvoll to study the bryophytes. In 1973 he visited the area around Nordfjord (James Land and Dickson Land), in 1974 he studied the NW area of Spitsbergen (Nordenskiöld Land, Oscar II Land, Haakon VII Land and Albert I Land) and in 1977 Nordenskiöld Land (mainly Adventdalen near Longyearbyen; Fig. 2 View Fig ). The collections of Frisvoll are deposited in TRH and all data registered, but there are many specimens which are yet identified only to genus (e.g., Lophozia s.lat., Cephalozia , Cephaloziella and Scapania ). The majority of his collections were identified by him and published. These results, along with a critical overview of early publications, are given by him in the incredibly valuable Catalog of Bryophytes of Svalbard in Frisvoll & Elvebakk (1996) which for the past 25 years has been the main guide to the flora of the liverworts of Svalbard.

Since 2004, within the framework of the Russian Interdepartmental Program of Scientific Research of the Nature of Svalbard, the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden- Institute has studied liverworts of the archipelago under the leadership of N.A. Konstantinova. A brief description of the Russian expeditions that explored the flora and vegetation of the Svalbard archipelago is given in chapter 3

Checklist of liverworts on Svalbard 357 of the book “Science on Svalbard. The history of Russian research” ( Konstantinova et al., 2009). Along with an outline of vegetation, this chapter provides the detailed maps of the regions with collection sites that were studied from 2004 to 2008 but provides only the most general information about the most common and some rare liverworts species as well as the general ideas on diversity of liverworts of Svalbard. From 2008 until 2017, the Russian group annually visited additional localities. In total, liverworts have been collected in 15 main areas ( Fig. 2 View Fig , Tab. 1) including five in Nordaustlandet. Three of the collecting areas were visited several times (Colesbukta, vicinity of Pyramiden and Barentsburg towns). Basically, the samples were collected during 5-8 days within a radius of 5-7 km, rarely 10 km from the location base.

Only a part of the specimens has been identified but annotated lists of species of vicinity of Barentsburg, Nordenskiöld Land ( Konstantinova & Savchenko, 2008b), north coast of Murchisonfjorden, Gustav V Land on Nordaustlandet ( Konstantinova & Savchenko, 2012), the Barents Island ( Konstantinova & Savchenko, 2018) and Prins Karls Forland ( Konstantinova & Savchenko, 2020a) have been published. Findings of new and rare species for some districts of Svalbard have been published ( Konstantinova & Savchenko, 2008a; Konstantinova et al., 2014), particularly from the vicinity of the Pyramiden, Dickson Land ( Konstantinova & Savchenko, 2008c), Bockfjorden, Haakon VII Land ( Konstantinova & Savchenko, 2006), and Nordaustlandet ( Konstantinova & Savchenko, 2015) including some that recently have been described from the other parts of Arctic, e.g., Lophozia fuscovirens ( Ellis et al., 2019c) .

In 2013 the Nordic Bryological Society had a weeklong excursion attended by 15 bryologists visiting several places in Adventdalen and Diabasodden ( Fig. 2 View Fig ). After this a photographic flora of some bryophytes in Adventdalen was published ( Prestø et al., 2014).

As part of a joint Norwegian–Russian collaboration, a group of six bryologists participated in a field trip in 2018 visiting eight localities on the SW coast of Spitsbergen from Sørkapp Land in the south to Isfjorden in the north. The expedition was led by L. Söderström, Trondheim, and N.A. Konstantinova, Kirovsk , and included Tommy Prestø, Trondheim, Matt von Konrat, Chicago, Anatoliy Savchenko, Kirovsk, and Mikhail Kozhin, Moscow. In addition, the lichenologist Lyudmila Konoreva, Kirovsk, participated. The base for this expedition was a ship with which we started to travel overnight to the first collecting point in Sørkapp Land. The expedition worked its way north along the coast and fjords with 1-2 stops each day ( Fig. 2 View Fig ).

The first locality visited (15 th Aug.) was Stormbukta (76°43’N, 16°19’E) on Sørkapp Land. The area was dry, and the bryophyte vegetation scattered and richest in the wettest parts. In the depressions along the beds of temporary streams, some bryophytes common in Svalbard were found. In addition to species widespread in Svalbard some rare species were also found. However, in total the bryophyte flora of this area is poor GoogleMaps .

Next locality to visit (16 th Aug.) was below Mezenryggen in Torrell Land (77°03’N, 16°30’E). This is a newly ice-free area between two glaciers, Storbreen and Hornbreen, with only sparse vegetation. The depressions were wet and mostly clayey, and the bryophytes were scattered. However, the bryophyte flora was rather rich, considering the short time it had been ice-free GoogleMaps .

In the afternoon, a short stop was made below Krykkjestupet on the N side of Sørkapp Land (76°58’N, 16°00’E) where a couple of interesting species were found GoogleMaps .

On the 17 th Aug. the N side of Dunderbukta below Dunderfjellet on Wedel Jarlsberg Land (77°29’N, 14°01’E) was visited. Of all studied sites on the expedition this was the richest both in abundance and diversity of bryophytes. Common and sometimes abundant were species that are widespread in Svalbard, but also several rare species were found GoogleMaps .

On the 18 th Aug. Ottoneset on Heer Land (77°50’N, 16°49’E) was visited. The bryophyte flora is relatively poor in sense of species diversity but some species widespread in Svalbard were rather abundant here GoogleMaps .