From the Field: Bill Buck in Cape Horn
Posted in Bill Buck, From the Field, Science on February 11th, 2011 by William R. Buck – Be the first to commentEd. note: NYBG scientist and Mary Flagler Cary Curator of Botany, Bill Buck is currently on expedition to the islands off Cape Horn, the southernmost point in South America, to study mosses and lichens. Follow his journeys on Plant Talk.
February 2, 2011; Seno Courtenay, northern arm, 54°30’S, 71°20’W
With today came the realization that the days are racing by. Initially it seemed like we had lots of time, but now the calendar is creeping up on us. We have today and the next three days before we head back to Punta Arenas (about a 17 hour trip).
Today was a great collecting day, we all came back delighted with what we had found. Blanka has nicknamed this locality The Enchanted Forest. We are in an eastern arm of Seno Courtenay where several small rivers emerge from what looks like a floodplain forest. There is supposedly a glacier-fed lake upriver, but not one of us has made it that far! At the beginning of the morning I was disappointed when I entered the forest; it seemed like it contained only the standard mosses I have become used to seeing. 
However, as I worked through the forest, the humidity increased as did the number and biomass of epiphytes. The trunks and branches of most trees were sheathed in bryophytes, and even twig epiphytes increased in diversity.
