A new study on mosses found in the polar regions reveals when and how often they have migrated across the Equator.
Mosses are the dominant flora in Antarctica, yet little is known of when and how they got there. The majority of Antarctica’s moss flora (~45% of species) has a curious distribution pattern – a pattern with species only occupying regions in the high latitudes of both hemispheres, with no or very small populations at higher elevations in the tropical regions. This non-continuous distribution pattern has puzzled scientists, including biologists such as Darwin and Wallace, since the 19th century.
A recent large-scale genetic study by researchers from British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the University of Cambridge, and the University of Helsinki and Turku in Finland investigated the origin of the ‘bipolar’ distribution pattern in four common moss species. The study of over 250 samples finds that the driver of these bipolar patterns is long-distance dispersal. This is the likely result of a spore or other reproductive plant part crossing the equator, either via winds or animals e.g. migratory birds.
Read more at British Antarctic Survey
Photo Credit: British Antarctic Survey
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