50 years of the International Association of Bryologists

The International Association of Bryologists (IAB) has been close to my heart during half of a century. Following the establishment of the IAB at the International Botanical Congress in Seattle in 1969, I served as its first secretary-treasurer for eighteen years and helped setting it up. Now, a half-century later, it is a joy and great satisfaction to see a vigorous and healthy IAB continuing on the path of promoting communication and collaboration among the world’s bryologists. It is a pleasure therefore to write a few lines on the history of the organization for this special Golden Jubilee issue of Bryophyte Diversity and Evolution. In doing so, I lean heavily on my account of the early history of the Association (https://bryology.org/history-of-iab/) and my talk on the history of international collaboration at the IAB congress in Madrid (Gradstein 2000).