396 
THE CORAL TRIANGLE: HEARST BIODIVERSITY EXPEDITION 
extended periods of desiccation by shutting down all cellular activity and the ability to rapidly 
come back to life when water again becomes available. Because bryophytes have no roots they are 
not confined to living on soil and therefore they can grow on rocks, tree tmnks, rotten wood, and 
even colonize leaf surfaces. Bryophytes are frequently used as biological indicators of environmen¬ 
tal health because pollutants in water are absorbed directly through the outer cell wall when hydrat¬ 
ed (Govindapyari et al. 2010). 
The ROLE OF voucher specimens in CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 
Museum specimens are a valuable source of information obtained from conducting inventory 
efforts and fonn the foundation for checklists, monographs, and floristic treatments (Bartram 1939; 
Del Rosario 1967; Linis 2010; Linis and Tan 2008, 2010; Tan 1992; Tan and Iwatsuki 1991). Spec¬ 
imens provide a historical framework and provide insights into species distribution and habitats. 
Voucher specimens are used to document the following: where species occur, where populations 
have expanded, or reduced, species now extirpated, and species inadvertently introduced due to 
habitats being altered or converted by human activities. Properly prepared and identified specimens 
are also essential for ongoing and future molecular studies so that researchers can examine source 
materials. In our view, all inventories and checklists should be based on an examination of exist¬ 
ing specimens located in museums and herbaria and, where applicable, the acquisition of addition¬ 
al specimens that are properly labeled and curated so they ai-e readily accessible to the scientific 
community. It is through the ongomg efforts of specimen acquisition that new range distributions 
are documented, species new to floristic regions are reported, and species new to science are dis¬ 
covered (Linis and Tan 2010; Tan et al. 2000). Herbaria also sewe as biological libraries for eco¬ 
logical studies where accurate species identification is paramount (Bortolus 2008) and vouchers aid 
in determining conseivation priorities. Unfortunately, many historic specimens in herbaria have 
either inadequate or poor label data to answer many basic conservation questions and even contem- 
poraiy collections can suffer fi'om poor label documentation. The need for detailed and accurate 
infomiation gathered at the time of collection is therefore critical. Today, with access to high qual¬ 
ity topographic maps and global positioning systems (GPS), the loeation information for a speei- 
men should be quite detailed. 
Why VOUCHER specimens? 
Among plants, bryophytes offer several inventory challenges sinee many species are quite 
small in size and speeies reeognition in the field can be difficult. Species are identified by morpho¬ 
logical characters that may be hard to see with the naked eye and most often require greater mag¬ 
nification provided by a dissecting and/or compound microscope. With practice, many species can 
be identified in the field, but others cannot be named with a high degree of assurance so nothing 
will substitute for a properly prepared voucher specimen. 
Today, the number of bryological specimens residmg in Philippine herbaria is still relatively 
low. Historically much of the biyophyte collecting and inventory work was done by foreign scien¬ 
tists, often before the Philippines became an independent nation. These collections were brought to 
European or American museums and herbaria. Additionally this under-representation is the result 
of bryophytes receiving less collection attention among botanists as compared to vascular plants. 
The inordinate value placed on being vascular has had a detrimental impact on collecting 
bryophytes and associated inventoiy efforts to expand the bryological holdings within Philippine 
herbaria. In addition, a lack of easy access to a wide variety of the bryological literature has also 
eompounded this simation. There is elearly a need to develop a eadre of resident professional 
