The Daltoniaceae are distributed across the New and Old Worlds. The family includes small or monospecific genera with restricted geographic ranges (e.g., Beeveria, Benitotania, Crosbya, Leskeodontopsis) as well as larger genera widespread in both Australasia and South America (e.g., Daltonia, Leskeodon). The disjunct ranges of Adelothecium (South America – West Africa) and Achrophyllum (New Zealand – southern South America) are of particular interest.

Fieldwork is essential for the research and is an important part of our training program. One field trip to southern Chile will be coordinated with Buck’s collecting activities associated with the "UK Darwin Initiative - Bryoflora of South-Western Patagonia [Project Code: SBSH1A9R]" Our Chilean contacts for this project are Dr. Ricardo Rozzi and Dra. Francisca Massardo, Instituto de Patagonia, Universidad de Magallanes. An additional field trip to Malaysia will be coordinated with Dr. B. Tan, National University of Singapore. Collecting activities will focus on species belonging to taxa being monographed, but in addition, general collecting will be expected because we believe that future taxonomists should be familiar with the broadest possible range of moss diversity.