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Ferns and mosses will grow with global warming | blogjou

Ben Rawlence

The Treeline

pp. 42-43
15 Nov 2023

Ferns and mosses will grow with global warming


In Siberia rampant moss is already hindering the establishment of larch seedlings. The accumulation of carbon dioxide acidifies the soil, in the same way that CO$_2$ acidifies the ocean, suffocation other plants.

In the Carboniferous period, when the atmosphere had a lot less oxygen than now, mosses and ferns like horsetails were dozens of feet high, mostrous triffid-like plants that gorged themselves on carbon dioxide. The triumph of the gymnosperms and angiosperms - coniferous and deciduous woody plants that slowly oxygenated the atmosphere - cut the equiseta, ferns and mosses down to size. With current warming, we can expect them to rise again, with serious consequences for forestry and agriculture as acidic air empowers the moss, choking fields.