Researchers took moss from the Californian desert - and found something very weird (and tiny) in it
Researchers at UC Riverside discovered that moss in arid desert environments hosts specific fungal communities, suggesting a symbiotic relationship. This finding challenges the long-held belief that mosses do not form symbioses with fungi and could provide clues about how plants first colonized land.
Why it matters
Understanding plant-fungi symbiosis in extreme climates could help scientists develop more resilient crops and better understand evolutionary biology.
While studying California dryland biocrusts (communities of living organisms which inhabit the surface of soils), researchers from University of California Riverside found something unlikely inside moss.
The article reports on scientific research findings without political or social framing.
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