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Looking Back on 130 Years of Fern and Lycophyte Research in Glacier National Park, Montana: A Modern Taxonomic Account

Publication ,  Journal Article
Heron, K; Windham, MD; Farrar, DR; Pryer, KM
Published in: American fern journal.
November 2021

Glacier National Park encompasses over one million acres in the mountains of northwestern Montana, along the United States–Canada border. Our survey of online databases indicates that the earliest extant fern and lycophyte collections from this area were taken by Robert S. Williams in 1892. In the summer of 1919, Paul C. Standley, a botanist with the United States National Museum, conducted a survey of the flora of the newly created Park and recorded 39 species of ferns and lycophytes. In 2002, a revised flora for the Park by Peter Lesica increased this number to 61. Here we summarize 130 years of collections-based research on the ferns and lycophytes of Glacier National Park, documenting how our understanding of the flora has changed through time. In the summer of 2019, the lead author conducted a field survey to relocate as many ferns and lycophytes as possible within park boundaries. In parallel, we scoured herbarium online portals and databases for high-resolution digitized specimen images to confirm or refute historical vouchers of ferns and lycophytes collected from the Park. In a few cases, specimen loans were requested from herbaria to confirm our determinations. The results from our combined field and online herbarium studies are presented here. Of the 61 taxa recognized by Lesica in 2002, we were able to confirm all but seven. In sum, we recognize here a total of 71 fern and lycophyte taxa for the Park. Most previously unreported taxa belong to Botrychium, a genus that has seen a flurry of recent taxonomic work by co-author Farrar and collaborators. These new data are presented here together with updated nomenclature and discussion to provide a current taxonomic account of the fourteen fern and lycophyte families known to occur in Glacier National Park. We anticipate this study will provide a useful foundation for further investigations in the Park.

Duke Scholars

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Published In

American fern journal.

DOI

EISSN

1938-422X

ISSN

0002-8444

Publication Date

November 2021

Volume

111

Issue

4

Start / End Page

223 / 250

Related Subject Headings

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • 3108 Plant biology
  • 3104 Evolutionary biology
  • 0607 Plant Biology
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Heron, K., Windham, M. D., Farrar, D. R., & Pryer, K. M. (2021). Looking Back on 130 Years of Fern and Lycophyte Research in Glacier National Park, Montana: A Modern Taxonomic Account. American Fern Journal., 111(4), 223–250. https://doi.org/10.1640/0002-8444-111.4.223
Heron, Keegan, Michael D. Windham, Donald R. Farrar, and Kathleen M. Pryer. “Looking Back on 130 Years of Fern and Lycophyte Research in Glacier National Park, Montana: A Modern Taxonomic Account.” American Fern Journal. 111, no. 4 (November 2021): 223–50. https://doi.org/10.1640/0002-8444-111.4.223.
Heron K, Windham MD, Farrar DR, Pryer KM. Looking Back on 130 Years of Fern and Lycophyte Research in Glacier National Park, Montana: A Modern Taxonomic Account. American fern journal. 2021 Nov;111(4):223–50.
Heron, Keegan, et al. “Looking Back on 130 Years of Fern and Lycophyte Research in Glacier National Park, Montana: A Modern Taxonomic Account.” American Fern Journal., vol. 111, no. 4, Nov. 2021, pp. 223–50. Epmc, doi:10.1640/0002-8444-111.4.223.
Heron K, Windham MD, Farrar DR, Pryer KM. Looking Back on 130 Years of Fern and Lycophyte Research in Glacier National Park, Montana: A Modern Taxonomic Account. American fern journal. 2021 Nov;111(4):223–250.

Published In

American fern journal.

DOI

EISSN

1938-422X

ISSN

0002-8444

Publication Date

November 2021

Volume

111

Issue

4

Start / End Page

223 / 250

Related Subject Headings

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • 3108 Plant biology
  • 3104 Evolutionary biology
  • 0607 Plant Biology