ORAL PRESENTATION CO-AUTHORS: Sarah Baughman, Tony Klingert, Alex Powell (UW-Green Bay Cofrin Center for Biodiversity) TITLE: Floristic quality assessment in WI rich fens using bryophytes and vascular plants ABSTRACT: Since 2022, we have been working on floristic quality assessments (FQAs) of minerotrophic peat-accumulating wetlands (including Northern Wet-mesic Forests, Boreal Rich Fens, Great Lakes Shore Fens) in northern Wisconsin. Our FQAs integrate percent-coverage estimates for both vascular and non-vascular plants (mosses and liverworts) and coefficients of conservatism (CCs) for our region’s bryophytes. We’ve developed draft CC values for 160 peatland bryophyte species of the Western Great Lakes region, gathering the expertise of bryologists from across the region. This work provides an important advancement for FQAs in Western Great Lakes peatlands, as bryophytes are important ecological indicators and frequently dominate peatlands in our region. To better understand the influence of integrating bryophytes into FQAs, we’re exploring different approaches to measure diversity, integrity, and quality of peatland sites. In this presentation, we will focus on preliminary data for Wisconsin’s Boreal Rich Fens, mainly in Door County, WI. BIO: Dr. Keir Wefferling is Curator of the Gary A. Fewless Herbarium and Assistant Professor of Biology at UW-Green Bay, positions he has held since 2020. His training is mainly in plant systematics and cytogeography, but increasingly Keir studies peatland bryophytes and peatland communities in the western Great Lakes region.