Phylogenetic analyses will be done using parsimony programs such as Hennig86. The robustness of the results will be tested with bootstrapping, branch and total support tests using the program RNA as well as with the parsimony jackknifing using the program Jack. DNA analyses and studies of morphology and anatomy of the plants will take place in the laboratory of the Department of Biology, University of Turku, Finnish Museum of Natural History and Department of Botany, University of Reading. Because of the long cultivation history, the population pressure to-day and the rawmaterial needs of industry, many areas and their floras are endangered or vanishing altogether. The original species of the tropical lowland rainforests have already been partly lost and the same fate is threatening the mountain rainforests.
Bryophytes are the second largest group of green land plants.
They have signifigant, or even dominant role in many ecosystems of northern coniferous and arctic zones, such as mires, and, on the other hand, in the mountain forests of tropical and sub-tropical areas. The bryophyte flora of the northern coniferous and arctic zones are known fairly well, but in the tropics the situation is quite the opposite. In Finland we have a long tradition in the study of bryophytes of East and Southeast Asia. The rich bryophyte collections of the Botanical Museum of the University of Helsinki are used as research material, as well as the material collected during our own excursions. Our research is basic research in botany.