A comprehensive study led by scientists from Freiburg and Beijing has characterized the adaptations of the moss Takakia to high altitudes and documented its population decline.
A comprehensive study led by scientists from Freiburg and Beijing has characterized the adaptations of the moss Takakia to high altitudes and documented its population decline.
The rare moss Takakia has adapted over millions of years to a life at high altitudes. An international research team led by Prof. Dr. Ralf Reski from the University of Freiburg and Prof. Dr. Yikun He from the Capital Normal University / China has now discovered exactly how it has developed the ability to survive frost and life-threatening high UV radiation. In the renowned journal Cell, they describe the genetic traits that protect the moss from extreme environmental conditions. At the same time, they document how climate change greatly altered the natural habitat of this highly specialized species within just a few years.
The genus Takakia comprises only two species. Together, they are found only on the Tibetan Plateau, the “roof of the world”, a hotspot of biodiversity. There, Prof. Dr. Xuedong Li, one of the two first authors of the study, discovered populations of the species Takakia lepidozioides at an altitude of over four thousand metres in 2005. Since then, the team has studied Takakia in the mountains and in the laboratory for more than a decade. For example, the study’s other first author, Dr. Ruoyang Hu, has been on site more than twenty times during the study period. “It is difficult to work at this altitude. High altitude sickness is a problem and sometimes our instruments failed”, Li explains. “Still, I love working in this environment. There you truly understand how important it is to preserve and protect the environment”, Hu says.
Read more at University of Freiburg
Image: Wild Takakia population on the Tibetan Plateau. (Credit: Photo: Xuedong Li / Capital Normal University Beijing)
