Research in Cryptogams Division

The research is mainly international, even though Finnish bryophyte flora and adjacent areas are also investigated for phytogeographical and environmental purposes and for purposes serving the public like compiling guide books. The focus of reseach has been clearly in tropics and subtropics and since the early 70ies concentrated in tropical South Asia. With monographic works the research encompass the whole world. The reason for wide scope research is the good collections since the 19th century from many remote areas not until now well studied. During the last years the scope of research has also been the phylogeny of hepatics.

Research projects

• Phylogeny of liverworts (Hepaticae), the least known group of early land plants –Xiao-Lan He-Nygrén, Inkeri Ahonen, Aino Juslén & Sinikka Piippo
• The taxonomy of the family Lejeuneaceae (in Finnish) – Xiao-Lan He-Nygrén, Sinikka Piippo & Inkeri Ahonen
• Diversification of liverworts – adaptation to ecosystem change in an ancient lineage –Xiaolan He-Nygrén, Yu Sun, Jaakko Kangasjärvi, Sanna Laaka-Lindberg, David Glenny, Lars Paulin & Niklas Wikström
• BRYOSPHERE – Phylogeny of early land plant lineages – Jaakko Hyvönen & Ahonen, I., Blomster, J., Juslén, A., He-Nygrén, X., Huttunen, S. & Virtanen, V.
• The bryophytes of China – Timo Koponen & Sinikka Piippo
• The bryophyte flora of Western Melanesia – Timo Koponen, Sinikka Piippo & Dan H. Norris
• The bryophyte flora of Hunan Province, China – Timo Koponen & Sinikka Piippo
• Revision of Philonotis in SE Asia and the Pacific – Timo Koponen
• Taxonomy and classification of the moss family Mniaceae (s.lat) – Timo Koponen
• Finnish bryophyte guide and floras (in Finnish) – Timo Koponen & Sinikka Piippo
• The phytogeographical elements of hepatic flora from Northern Finland to Lithuania – Sinikka Piippo & Nijole Kalinauskaite
• The succession of the vegetation in Karkali Nature Reserve (in Finnish) – Timo Koponen
• The hepatic flora of South Ural – Nijole Kalinauskaite
• Entomophily and taxonomy of Splachnaceae – Aune Koponen
• Character Evolution in Pleurocarpous Mosses – Johannes Enroth (Dept. of Bio- and environmental sciences)