Atlantic glaciers formed and expanded from the second half of the 16th century to the first half of the 19th century.
Many species were buried under layers of ice. Global warming is causing glaciers to melt, and what a surprise when rediscovered ancient species “popped” to the surface.
Canadian biologists have discovered parts of the moss that was hidden under dense layers of ice on Ellesmere Island, Canada. The biologist noticed signs of life.
The head of the survey and biologist, Catherine La Farge, from The University of Alberta, who specializes in ancient mosses, found brown and green bits of moss. She found that moss was able to revive even though he was buried for 400 years.
This information shakes some basic assumptions about plants.
An Experiment
It was assumed that the plant material hidden and frozen under the Arctic glacier was dead.
La Farge has secured evidence that moss is able to revive. She placed 24 brown moss samples in soil containers. She kept the moss container in the closet beside her office. Indeed, small green fibers started to grow after 4 to 6 weeks. A month later, the pots were almost full of green moss.
As La Farge said: “Now we have to think there may be populations of land plants that survived that freezing. It makes you wonder what’s under the big ice caps in Arctic and Antarctic and alpine glaciers.”
Global warming is now taking on a different dimension. Looking at it from a different perspective, the idea is that scientists can discover other species with the ability to revive after hundreds to thousands of years of freezing.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2013-05-year-arctic-anew-glaciers-retreat.html, http://www.trueactivist.com/ice-is-melting-all-across-the-atlantic-and-ancient-species-that-were-buried-underground-have-resurfaced-once-again-t1/
Credit: pixabay.com, Catherine La Farge
