The superhero among plants: Moss

Thanks to a recently published study, we know that moss not only stands for green coolness, it is also a plant that can work wonders for our climate. It absorbs six times more CO₂ than other plants.

But not all mosses are the same. There are actually 12,000 species of this genus in a wide variety of places. The study in question, which was recently published in the scientific journal "Nature", found that moss-covered soils contain six times more carbon than those without moss growth.

Eight different ecosystems at more than 100 locations worldwide were studied.

The scientists assume that the mossy areas cover more than 9.4 million square kilometers. That is roughly the size of Canada.

The special abilities of moss

"We were amazed when we realized that mosses do all these amazing things," explained David Eldridge, an ecologist at the University of New South Wales.

"Moss survives by absorbing water from the atmosphere. And some mosses, like those in arid areas of Australia, curl up when they get dry, but they don't die - they live forever in suspended animation," explains the ecologist. "We took mosses out of a pack after 100 years, splashed them with water and watched them come back to life. Their cells do not disintegrate, as is the case with normal plants."

It should also be mentioned that moss is very resistant to pathogens. In soil samples from mossy soils, the load of pathogens was significantly lower than in soils without mosses.

So let's take care of our forests, because they are the guardians of this green treasure.