So these "old timer" bryophytes frequently get buried by glaciers during ice ages. And they can sit patiently under the ice for a really long time....
A number of unfortunate bryophytes have been stuck under the ice for half a millennium, since the Little Ice Age! But as glaciers everywhere retreat with global warming, these plants are actually reviving. Here's the link:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130528202549.htm?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fearth_climate+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Earth+%26+Climate+News%29
Dr. La Farge is the curator of the very cool-sounding Cryptogamic Herbarium; do you think she imagined her career when she was just a kid? I doubt it. But she and her team of scientists are growing these long-dormant plants, and glaciers are looking more like long-term depositories of many plant species; Mother Nature turns out to be an efficient archivist!
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| A random bryophyte. |
