'We Were Gobsmacked': Giant Study Reveals Why Moss Is Vital For The Planet
NATURE
09 May 2023
ByTESSA KOUMOUNDOUROS
Moss decorated by morning dewdrops. (cristinagonzalez/RooM/Getty Images)
More like a verdant rug than a forest or pasture, the humble moss packs a surprising lot of punch for being such a small plant. In an amazing new study, researchers have only just discovered how vital this diverse group of itty-bitty botanicals is to ecosystems around the world.
"We were gobsmacked to find that mosses were doing all these amazing things," exclaims David Eldridge, an ecologist at the University of New South Wales, Australia.
Sampling mosses from over a hundred sites across eight different ecosystems, Eldridge and colleagues estimated populations of the plant cover a staggering 9.4 million square kilometers in the types of environments surveyed. This is comparable to the size of China or Canada.
Moss growing on volcanic rocks in Iceland tundra. (Dylan Shaw/Unsplash)
Ancestors of all today's living plants, these ancient organisms are more simplistic in their structure than their more modern descendents, with sprigs full of tiny leaves, typically just one cell thick. But that doesn't make them any less mighty.
More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/we-were-gobsmacked-giant-study-reveals-why-moss-is-vital-for-the-planet
= new reply since forum marked as read
I'm not surprised, though.
Thanks for posting! 
