Emily Chan
For 390 million years, a rare moss called Takakia has adapted to life on the cliffs of the Tibetan Plateau in the Himalayas, persisting through four mass extinctions.
The genus is considered to be the world’s oldest moss and is one of the fastest-evolving species of any moss.
However, a team of researchers who have been studying the moss for over a decade have stated that Takakia may not be adapting quickly enough to survive humans and climate change. Now, it’s facing extinction.
Takakia consists of just two species. They can be found individually in the United States and Japan, but they grow together only on the Tibetan Plateau, an area that reaches high altitudes and is covered in snow for the majority of the year.
When the snow melts away to reveal the moss, it is then exposed to high levels of ultraviolet radiation.
Takakia is very different from other plants, with features such as featherlike leaves and a lack of pores for controlling oxygen and carbon dioxide flow.
In 2005, one of the authors of the study, Dr. Xuedong Li, discovered Takakia populations at an altitude of over 13,000 feet.
Since then, the researchers have been analyzing the moss. The results of their study have shown that rising temperatures have significantly altered the region where both species of moss grow, contributing to the decline of their range.
Over the years, the team tested the moss’s ability to withstand extreme cold and solar radiation, which are traits it adapted as the Himalayas began to stretch toward the sky 65 million years ago.
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