Weather & Science
This Moss Survived 165 Million Years. Climate Change Is Killing It
Takakia lepidozioides was one of the first land plants on Earth. Now it’s disappearing in the wild, a new study concludes.
Takakia was one of the first land plants on Earth, and remains vital to our understanding of evolution.
Xuedong Li, Capital Normal University Beijing, ChinaThis article is for subscribers only.
One of the fastest-evolving species ever studied may not be evolving fast enough to survive rising temperatures.
Takakia lepidozioides, a type of moss found mainly in the US, Japan and Tibet, has survived at least 165 million years and multiple catastrophic climate events, including the one that killed the dinosaurs. Now it’s disappearing in the wild due to climate change, concludes the peer-reviewed study published Wednesday in the journal Cell.