Preview
Creation Date
10-3-2018
Keywords
Syntrichia caninervis; Drying with out dying; Arid habitats; Mosses; Mojave Desert; Drought recovery; Hydrology; time-lapse photography; Green bloom
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | Education | Life Sciences | Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Document Type
Image
File Format
jpeg
File Size
9.591 Kb
Language
English
Description
The hardy moss, Syntrichia caninervis, is shown drying without dying in one of the most arid habitats mosses can survive, the Mojave Desert. This species may be one of the world’s most desiccation-tolerant plants, however, we know little about how much time cushions spend hydrated recovering from drought, heat, and UV. My research is quantifying annual hydration dynamics for 24 microhabitats using time-lapse photography (Wingscapes©) while sampling stems to test the hypothesis: shadier habitats will extend hydration times and yield healthier mosses. Depicted here is a healthy population in a high-shade microhabitat following a night rain of 14mm that fully hydrates the plants into a “green bloom” at 9pm (top) lasting 15 hours for recovery and growth until noon, thanks to shading by neighboring shrubs (middle). The cushions dry slowly in the sun by 5:30pm, assuming their protective morphology, leaves folded upward (bottom), prepared for the next cycle of desert dormancy.
Time Period
2010-2019; 21st century
Keywords
Syntrichia caninervis; Drying with out dying; Arid habitats; Mosses; Mojave Desert; Drought recovery; Hydrology; time-lapse photography; Green bloom