Bulk Sectioning Bryophyte Shoots
Channel: JuniperDouglas
Date: 2023-01-04

This video demonstrates the bulk sectioning of bryophyte shoots and leaves. This is ideal for creating a lot of stem and leaf cross sections. They may vary in quality, but because you are creating hundreds at a time, you are likely to recover many usable sections. The goal is to have something that you can put under the compound microscope that is about 1 cell thick. I use a hardwood block, thick single edged razor blade for trimming, then flimsier but sharper razor blades for sectioning. Using tweezers, I extract a few shoots from my specimen and place them between the wooden block and a microscope slide. I use the tweezers to to tighten the bundle of shoots and then press down with the slide. I then trim the shoot with the thick razor. Now the bulk sections are ready to be made. I run the edge of the flimsy razor along the edge of the glass slide to make a section cut. I repeat the motion, each time moving the glass slide every so slightly back. After around 5-10 iterations of this, you will have a mound of sections on the razor blade and/or the wooden block. Wipe the slide down, place a drop of water on it and then transfer these sections to the droplet. Place a cover slide on top and pop your prepared slide under the compound scope. You will have a variety of sections, but when you hunt around, there should be some good cross sections through the leaves and shoots.