Excursion into the World of Mosses

The Nature Conservation Center Wilhelmsdorf invites you to a guided tour with moss specialist Alfons Schäfer-Verwimp. Sphagnum mosses are the "building blocks" of raised bogs, but many other mosses also thrive in the wild moor landscape of Pfrunger-Burgweiler Ried. They are beautiful to look at, but not easy to identify. The excursion leader Alfons Schäfer-Verwimp has been documenting the original plants in Pfrunger-Burgweiler Ried and other areas for many years, which reproduce not through flowers but through spores. Recent research shows that mosses are among the oldest land plants. They colonized land long before flowering plants and even before ferns, and have developed a number of adaptations to life on land that benefited the ferns and flowering plants that evolved from them. During the tour, you will be introduced to the micro-world of the "Wrinkled Peter," the "Golden Haircap Moss," or the sphagnum mosses, which can store up to 30 times their mass in water as building materials for raised bogs and can outcompete other organisms through their metabolism. If you have a magnifying glass, feel free to bring it along. Long pants, sturdy shoes, and protection against mosquitoes and sun are recommended. **Registration by September 25th** via the contact form on [www.pfrunger-burgweiler-ried.de](https://pfrunger-burgweiler-ried.de) is required.