“Get a spray bottle and go out in the summer when they’re dry, and spritz ‘em,” Cleavitt says. Basically, all that fresh moisture kind of makes them unfurl and get bigger, like wetting a dry sponge. Unlike species like bioluminescent algae, moss doesn’t literally glow, but this “lighting up” effect isn’t just Trish’s imagination: Rain really can make moss (and lichen) change color and get more vibrant. Luckily for moss, it’s evolved to hold water and dry out slowly, so it can retain that protective cushion for an impressive amount of time.Ī patch of Luminous Moss, otherwise known as "Goblin's Gold"Ī listener named Tricia emailed to ask “What makes the moss on trees seem to ‘light up’ on rainy days?” “It also fills in all the spaces and somewhat protects against the compacting.” “ makes your cells a lot more elastic,” Cleavitt says. Water helps to shield mosses from injury. “How much walking? How much do the walkers weigh? Are they moving slow, or are they running? Are they barefoot or are they wearing boots? The more force that you apply to the moss or lichen, the more damage you’re going to do.”Ĭleavitt says that unlike grasses, which grow from the base of the blade and recover easily from being stepped on or mowed, moss has a three-dimensional growing structure that makes it more vulnerable to getting squashed.Ĭontrary to what you might think, that also means that big well-developed mosses (like sphagnum mosses) are more likely to be damaged by walking than smaller ones.Īnd the drier and more brittle the moss is, the more vulnerable it is. Nat Cleavitt is a plant ecologist with Cornell University, but works primarily at the Hubbard Experimental Forest (interesting side note: that’s where acid rain was first discovered and researched).Īnd when I asked her Carolyn’s question, Cleavvit responded with a few follow-ups of her own. But how much damage walking inflicts is all in the details. Most plants don’t love being trampled on, and moss is no exception. ![]() ![]() Instead, moss holds water kind of like a fuzzy green land sponge. For you botanical geeks out there, that means no xylem and no phloem. ![]() Moss is a type of plant called a bryophyte, and what distinguishes it from a lot of other plants is that it reproduces using spores, it doesn’t have flowers, and it doesn’t have a vascular system - which is basically the water transportation system of stems and trunks and branches and whatnot. It’s squishy, it’s green, and it makes forests look like magical fairy hideouts. Question #1: Carolyn asks via Instagram: “Does moss get damaged when you walk on it?Įditor's Note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the depth that moss can photosynthesize under Antarctic ice. This week, we answer three questions about moss. Every other Friday on Morning Edition, the Outside/In team answers a question from a listener about the natural world.
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