It is Betina's focus, moss of the time

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University of Otago botany and geology student Betina Fleming examines the moss growing on a wall at her Queen St flat. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.

But for University of Otago botany and geology student Betina Fleming, the moss on her garden wall has proved an endless source of fascination.

Originally from Waimate, Miss Fleming (20) first noticed the moss when she moved into her Queen St flat last year.

Over several months, she divided the side and top of the wall into 248 squares and examined the contents of each to see how many different kinds of moss she would find.

The results were surprising, she said yesterday.

Using a New Zealand moss guide with pictures for reference, she discovered 15.

As interesting as that was, the study only raised more questions, Miss Fleming said.

"I found a pattern to where particular varieties were growing, but only some explanation about why that has occurred.

What I would very much like to know is why.

Is it moisture, or light, or something to do with the composition of the wall?"The study also provided her with "quite beautiful" photographs of the moss, she said, some taken with a digital camera attached to a microscope and some taken using a regular camera.

In November, Miss Fleming presented her initial findings at a workshop in the North Island.

Her talk won her the Tom Moss - the person, not the plant - award for undergraduate research.

Miss Fleming said she hoped to be able to continue her research this year as part of her third-year studies, with the aim of producing a paper for publication in an academic journal.

"It will probably be quite an obscure [journal], but it should still be published."

allison.rudd@odt.co.nz