ORAL PRESENTER TITLE: Bryophytes as indicator species in Wisconsin peat-accumulating wetlands. ABSTRACT: Bryophytes are sensitive to microsite and substrate conditions, including pH, mineral and nutrient content, and position relative to the water table. I am coordinating with bryologists and ecologists from the Great Lakes region in order to integrate bryophytes into floristic quality assessments in peat-accumulating wetlands. The current project is evolving in coordination with ecologists and botanists with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and is guided by input from botanists and bryologists from other regions that have implemented similar approaches (Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Ontario). In this work, I hope to provide tools for land managers and ecologists to use bryophytes as indicators of particular conditions in our peat-accumulating wetland communities. This work will be especially important in wetlands where benchmarks or “tipping points” have not been identified using vascular plants alone. Specifically, I will address the question, “What can bryophytes tell us about ecosystem health and anthropogenic disturbance in Wisconsin peatlands?” BIO: Keir Wefferling is Assistant Professor of Biology and Curator of the Fewless Herbarium at UW–Green Bay. For his PhD at UW-Milwaukee with Dr. Sara Hoot, Keir worked on the systematics and cytology of Caltha and completed a two-year postdoc with an NSF fellowship at University of California, Berkeley, studying polyploidy in ferns. He now studies peatlands and their mosses and teaches botany.