Blog - Bringing the wilderness to IMPS: Fieldwork in Scotland to generate a lycophyte living collection – likely UK’s largest!

Every good story starts with a mystery. In my project’s case, it’s to do with why we observe a specific mathematic pattern over and over again in nature, when it seemingly provides no obvious benefits. Fibonacci spirals have been observed in the vast majority of plants when they arrange their leaves, flowers or other growth organs on their vertical stems. It is a long-sought-after question in science, having marvelled mathematicians, physicists, biologists, philosophers and artists alike for centuries, so I only aim to contribute a small grain of sand to the mountain of knowledge that little by little paints us the picture as to why plants grow in such fascinating patterns.

There are four large groups of vascular plants: angiosperms (flowering plants), gymnosperms (amongst which conifers are most well-known), ferns, and lycophytes – a group consisting of plants which people have come to call clubmosses, spikemosses and quillworts. Despite some of their common names referring to “moss”, these are completely separate plants which present very clear distinctions from mosses. They also have been called “fern allies”, but they are a completely separate group in their own right. Currently only a few hundred species survive, but in the past this group of now-overlooked plants used to dominate all land ecosystems, with towering trees and large swathes of land covered in lycophytes – they are mainly responsible for the carboniferous swamps that produced our modern-day coal!

Out of all 4 groups of vascular plants, angiosperms have been best studied when it comes to Fibonacci spirals. Gymnosperms have also been studied, and ferns have been described as likely presenting high numbers of Fibonacci spirals. However, as we stray further away from flowers, the less this trait has been properly studied and mathematically quantified. When some scientists turned their attention to lycophytes, they found they present non-Fibonacci spirals, both in extant (Gola, 1996) and extinct (Turner et al., 2023) members of the group – making them a fascinating focus for my research. One possible explanation for today’s large amount of Fibonacci spirals is simply that the currently dominant plant groups present them as part of their development, and that’s why we see them everywhere – whereas in the past, perhaps non-Fibonacci spirals were far more common!

I am setting out in my PhD trying to test this hypothesis. As such, I’ve begun by attempting to quantify the spirals present in more species of lycophytes, previously understudied for this trait. Several of these species I’ve obtained from botanic garden collections; however, in Scotland we have 8 native species, and I soon found out the logistics, time and permits required to sample these would be far easier to arrange than to try find botanic gardens that grow them – unsurprisingly, these are not often grown given the little attention they are given!

Additionally, collecting them in the field brought forth another advantage: the capacity to bring back live plants from the wild to IMPS, and grow them here, keeping a healthy stock to produce a wealth of research possibilities for the MPEG lab, of which I am a member, given many of our labs’ projects focus on lycophytes.

Once permits were obtained, preparations began: health and safety documents were reviewed, risk assessments written and signed off, and I was ready to set off! Throughout the trips I carried out this past spring, I learned lots through the whole prep and fieldwork process. Some key things to bear in mind when doing fieldwork in Scotland:

• Always allow for ample time brackets for permits and health and safety documents to be arranged and approved!
• If your work spans across several institutions, be aware that potentially one of the institutions you belong to may have a streamlined, easy process for some of the paperwork, which may save you valuable time – yet at the same time, you’ll be expected to make all institutions aware you are going on fieldwork and they’ll want to review health and safety documents.
• Give yourself a few days to actually collate the kit list you’ll need – it’s far easier that way to pack, and will mean you aren’t heading out underprepared!
• Consider all weathers and potential situations in the field when preparing, and consider either having taken an outdoor first aid course, or going with people who are first aid trained.
• Watch out for ticks and midges, protect appropriately – and remove quick if bitten by a tick. An excellent practice is to store the tick in case you need to test for some of the diseases they carry. For midges, far easier – DEET, afterbite, & don’t scratch!
• A team is always better than solo! I was able to arrange all of my trips out in the company of people. Not only is it safer – often those who are keen to go out with you will be a great source of knowledge and you’ll learn so much from them in the field! In my trips I was joined by lab members, and in some of them I sought external help – I went on two trips with Heather McHaffie, an excellent field botanist with a wealth of plant knowledge and in-depth fern & lycophyte ID skills – without her advice, I wouldn’t have been able to find many of the sites I visited in the first place! She also then pointed out other contacts to arrange a final trip to a location where I could find a locally rare plant.
• Carry out a consistent system of steps and tasks when in the field to ensure consistent fieldwork success.
• Make sure you carry out all databasing and recording efforts after fieldwork to avoid future forgetfulness about what happened in the field/what plants you did/didn’t collect!

I ended up carrying out 5 trips in total in May and June, visiting some of the most stunning Scottish wilderness. My aim was twofold: I collected some plants to grow, and directly cut a few stem tops to start fixing them and start the mathematical quantification process. Here are some pictures of how I fared!