Guide to bryophytes of sub-Saharan Africa

Guide to contributors

Introduction

This project aims to provide an illustrated guide to all 120 bryophyte families and 497 genera in sub-Saharan Africa, including the Atlantic and Indian Ocean islands. As a basis we are using the recently published guide to neotropical bryophytes (Guide to the bryophytes of tropical America). However, 15% of African families and 27% of genera do not occur in the neotropics and so will need to be written in full, and even where families or genera are common between the two areas, it is possible that few if any species are common, and in all cases will mean doing illustrations (copyright of the neotropical drawings is held by NYBG, publishers of the neotropical guide).

The overall timescale is not yet fixed, and depends on delivery of text from authors. All contributions will be included also on the GBAonline website.

You will be supplied with the neotropical descriptions and illustrations for families and genera common between the two areas. Remember that a family/genus common between the neotropics and Africa may share very few species in common, so that the neotropic descriptions may not entirely match the African situation: experience so far suggests that quite a large proportion of the text may need to be changed, although it is still quicker adapting existing text than it is writing from a blank page. Thus, every part of the descriptions should be scrutinised with care, checked against African literature, and appropriate amendments made to both familial and generic descriptions. If possible, specimens should also be checked, especially if the literature is inadequate. For new genera/families, produce an account in the style of the sample (see below), and of about the same length.

Distribution data within Africa should be based on the current checklists (Wigginton 2004 for hepatics, O'Shea 2003 for mosses) but without attribution: you only need to mention sources for any changes. The checklists will be included in a general bibliography, and there will be a statement in the introduction that these are the source of distribution information for the family/genera accounts.

Drawings should be based on the most common African taxa in the genus, but should typify the genus, show the diagnostic features, and should be limited to a habit drawing, leaf outline(s) and mid-leaf cells, together with any other characters and features that are appropriate for the particular genus (capsule, perichaetial leaves, alar cells, lobule shape, etc.). If there is considerable variation in form within a large genus, it may be desirable to include more than one habit drawing. Further guidance on drawings is attached as an appendix to this document.

Please follow these guidelines and the sample format (see below) exactly - if you don't, it just makes more work for the editors.

* For the main family and genus descriptions, the first word of each sentence (or occasionally the first two words) should be in bold, so make sure this highlights key words such as Plants, Stem, Perichaetial leaves etc.
* Please use no paragraph formatting: all settings in the Format/Paragraph/Indents & Spacing should be set to zero, with paragraphs left aligned, single spacing. Where it is necessary to inset the first line of a paragraph, use a tab rather than altering the format of the paragraph. (In MS Word, this may mean deselecting the 'tabs and backspace set left indent' option in Tools/Options/Edit.) As in this document, separate sentences by only one space.
* List the references in alphabetic order of author, according to the format shown in the sample. Note that there should be no space between author initials.
* Where there is only one genus within a family, the account should contain the normal brief description of number of genera worldwide etc., but the main family description should be omitted (such that the genus description defines the family).
* Treat family names as plural (e.g. 'The Rhachitheciaceae contain...' (vs. contains)).
* Use the past tense for discussing previously published works.
* When indicating ranges of values, use two hyphens with no space, e.g. 1500--2500 m, pages 20--30, 5--7 mm etc. These will be replaced by 'en dashes' before publication (slightly longer than normal hyphens).
* For keys, right align taxon names, leave no gap between couplets, and use dotted leaders between text and taxon name (consult one of the editors if you don't know how to do this).
* The final document will be produced using MS Word 97 with the TrueType Times New Roman font (12 point), as in this guide to contributors. Please use this font also if possible, but if not, use only one font and one font size throughout.

Your contribution should be provided in MS Word format if possible, on disc or preferably as an e-mail attachment. If not MS Word, please confirm beforehand that we can read what you produce, and try to adapt the MS Word-specific advice above to your own word processor. Anyone providing non-word processed documents should discuss formats with the appropriate editor; a typewritten document is preferred to avoid ambiguity (preferably using a font that is easily scanned, such as Courier), but hand-written documents may be acceptable.

These guidelines have been agreed with MBG Press as presenting them with minimal changes during production.

Structure of family and genus accounts See sample treatment of Rhachitheciaceae.

Estimates

In general, we expect that family and genus treatments will take the same (one day on average), whether or not they are from the neotropical guide. Please discuss any problems regarding delivery as soon as they appear so we can re-assess the time to be allowed and the impact on other deliveries. If anybody experiences delays that are likely to affect the end of June completion date, please let us know as soon as possible, as we may be able to provide help from other authors who have already completed their family accounts.

Timetable

As the editors are themselves contributing family and genus accounts, it will be necessary to stick to a reasonably firm timescale, otherwise there will be bottlenecks in the editing process. This will be a particular problem towards the end of the period, so we would prefer that people finished as early as possible to leave the last couple of months for problem solving, rather than chasing late deliveries from authors. 

The editing process will be as follows:

1. Work will be allocated to individuals by the editors (Brian O'Shea for mosses, Martin Wigginton for hepatics and anthocerotes). For each family, the latest version of any neotropical treatment will be sent, via email, disk or paper, as required.

2. Agreement will be reached between editor and author on estimated start and delivery dates.

3. When each family is completed, text and illustrations should be returned to the appropriate editor, who will then vet against technical standards ready for incorporation into the final text. The editors will also check that so far as they can tell the detail and references are relevant and complete.

4. Periodically each editor will pass accumulated new text and illustrations to the other editor for agreement, and the documents will then be forwarded to an expert for final review.

Brian O'Shea
Martin Wigginton

References

Gradstein, S.R., Churchill, S.P & Salazar-Allen, N. 2001. Guide to the bryophytes of Tropical America. New York: New York Botanical Garden Press. (Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden 86: i-vii, 1-577.)

O'Shea, B.J. 2003. Checklist of the mosses of sub-Saharan Africa (version 4, 12/03). Tropical Bryology Research Reports 4: 1-182.

Wigginton, M.J. 2004. Checklist and distribution of the liverworts and hornworts of sub-Saharan Africa, including the East African Islands (edition 2, September 2004). Tropical Bryology Research Reports 5: 1-102.

updated: 22 April 2005
previously updated: 17 September 2003, 8 August 2002, 28 January 2000

Appendix - Guidelines for Drawings

Each generic account will be accompanied by a drawing showing the form of the plant and its constituent parts, including any characters which especially differentiate the genus. Drawings will comprise a leafy shoot (or thallus), and parts of the plant including leaves, cells, reproductive structures, etc. For heterogenous genera, additional drawings should be included to show the variation - e.g. illustrate hyaline-margined and denticulate-margined leaves in Cololejeunea; the different forms of lobule in Frullania; leaf structure in Leucoloma.
We will aim for drawings of similar style and line thickness to those included in Buck (1998) Pleurocarpous Mosses of the West Indies, an example of which will be sent to those who need it.

Specimens for drawing
The drawing should be made from African specimen(s) if possible.

Size
The set of drawings for each genus should be contained within a rectangle of 100 x 260 mm on an A4 sheet. For most genera this should be a horizontal rectangle, i.e. 'landscape orientation'. There may, however, be some genera (e.g. those with pendent shoots) which are better drawn in a vertical rectangle. These will need to be dealt with individually with the editors.
No 'margins' should be left inside the 100 x 260 mm rectangle.

Drawing medium
Use drafting film or high quality paper. Standard grade photocopier paper or paper of similar quality should not be used for an inked drawing, as the ink line will not be sharp.

Pens
The following pen sizes should be used:

- 0.35 mm pen for the main outlines of shoots, leaves, inflorescenses, and transverse sections of stem and leaf.

- 0.25 mm pen for other features, including the following:

leaf costae
verrucae or punctatae of cuticle
plicae of leaves
hairs and fine rhizoids
outlines of cells
striae of capsules
papillae of cells
scale bars

- 0.15 mm or 0.18 mm pen for all shading .

If it is not possible to obtain these exact pen sizes, then please use as near as possible to these sizes. Dotted shading must be done with a very fine pen.

Shading
Should be only with dots (not lines or dashes) with a 0.15 or 0.18 mm pen. It should be fairly minimal: above all, please avoid heavy shading. If you do not have such a fine pen, or are uncertain about applying shading, then please use a soft (HB) pencil* to solid-shade the areas which you suggest should be shaded.

Scale bars
A scale bar (a simple line) should be drawn with a 0.25 mm pen alongside each constituent part of the figure. The length represented by the scale bar should be written by the side of it in HB pencil*.

Lettering and legend
Each part of the figures should be marked with capital letters (A, B, C, etc) in HB pencil. A key (legend) should be provided on a separate attached note, not on the drawing itself. The legend should preferably be sent with the generic account, to avoid the need of retyping. The legend should include the species name that is being illustrated (including authority), and also collection details.

Sending drawings to co-ordinators
For posting, please ensure drawings are enclosed between stiff covers which prevent the package being folded, and mark the envelope 'PHOTOGRAPHS - DO NOT BEND'.

*an HB pencil is recommended since it is neither so soft as to smudge, nor so hard as to show when erased.

Note:
1. If illustrators need, for any special reason, to make larger drawings (e.g. those using drawing arms), then they should scale up the pen size ready for photoreduction, or preferably reduce it by photocopying then trace using standard-sized pens.
2. If these guidelines present any problems, please contact the coordinator.