The moss isn’t propelled by a slope, the wind, or the sun, but the group moves in sync

In parts of Alaska and Iceland, glacier mice roam wild.

While glacier mice look small and fluffy, they aren’t rodents or even animals—they’re lumps of moss about the size of a flattened softball. Their name comes from a 1951 report in the Journal of Glaciology, when an Icelandic researcher referred to them as jökla-mýs, glacier mice. Now, new research takes a close look at moss ball locomotion.

The study, published last month in the journal Polar Biology, shows that glacier mice can live for years and that herds of them move together in sync. But the researchers aren’t sure yet why that is, as NPR’s Nell Greenfieldboyce reports.

Together the team analyzed the data of the moss balls’ movement and found that they roll about an inch each day. The moss balls seem to insulate the ice below them, so as the glacier surface melts, each ball is sitting on a small pedestal. Eventually, it tumbles off.

“The whole colony of moss balls, this whole grouping, moves at about the same speeds and in the same directions,” Bartholomaus tells NPR. “Those speeds and directions can change over the course of weeks.”

The glacier mice didn’t follow any pattern that the researchers checked. The moss wasn’t rolling down a slope, getting pushed by the wind, or following the sun.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/herds-moss-balls-mysteriously-roam-arctic-together-180975019/

PermeateFree said:

The moss isn’t propelled by a slope, the wind, or the sun, but the group moves in sync

In parts of Alaska and Iceland, glacier mice roam wild.

While glacier mice look small and fluffy, they aren’t rodents or even animals—they’re lumps of moss about the size of a flattened softball. Their name comes from a 1951 report in the Journal of Glaciology, when an Icelandic researcher referred to them as jökla-mýs, glacier mice. Now, new research takes a close look at moss ball locomotion.

The study, published last month in the journal Polar Biology, shows that glacier mice can live for years and that herds of them move together in sync. But the researchers aren’t sure yet why that is, as NPR’s Nell Greenfieldboyce reports.

Together the team analyzed the data of the moss balls’ movement and found that they roll about an inch each day. The moss balls seem to insulate the ice below them, so as the glacier surface melts, each ball is sitting on a small pedestal. Eventually, it tumbles off.

“The whole colony of moss balls, this whole grouping, moves at about the same speeds and in the same directions,” Bartholomaus tells NPR. “Those speeds and directions can change over the course of weeks.”

The glacier mice didn’t follow any pattern that the researchers checked. The moss wasn’t rolling down a slope, getting pushed by the wind, or following the sun.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/herds-moss-balls-mysteriously-roam-arctic-together-180975019/

> they roll about an inch each day

That’s fast.

> The glacier mice didn’t follow any pattern that the researchers checked. The moss wasn’t rolling down a slope, getting pushed by the wind, or following the sun.

Sure about that? Do they contain beetles or worms?

mollwollfumble said:

PermeateFree said:

The moss isn’t propelled by a slope, the wind, or the sun, but the group moves in sync

In parts of Alaska and Iceland, glacier mice roam wild.

While glacier mice look small and fluffy, they aren’t rodents or even animals—they’re lumps of moss about the size of a flattened softball. Their name comes from a 1951 report in the Journal of Glaciology, when an Icelandic researcher referred to them as jökla-mýs, glacier mice. Now, new research takes a close look at moss ball locomotion.

The study, published last month in the journal Polar Biology, shows that glacier mice can live for years and that herds of them move together in sync. But the researchers aren’t sure yet why that is, as NPR’s Nell Greenfieldboyce reports.

Together the team analyzed the data of the moss balls’ movement and found that they roll about an inch each day. The moss balls seem to insulate the ice below them, so as the glacier surface melts, each ball is sitting on a small pedestal. Eventually, it tumbles off.

“The whole colony of moss balls, this whole grouping, moves at about the same speeds and in the same directions,” Bartholomaus tells NPR. “Those speeds and directions can change over the course of weeks.”

The glacier mice didn’t follow any pattern that the researchers checked. The moss wasn’t rolling down a slope, getting pushed by the wind, or following the sun.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/herds-moss-balls-mysteriously-roam-arctic-together-180975019/

> they roll about an inch each day

That’s fast.

> The glacier mice didn’t follow any pattern that the researchers checked. The moss wasn’t rolling down a slope, getting pushed by the wind, or following the sun.

Sure about that? Do they contain beetles or worms?

Article at https://sci-hub.tw/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-020-02675-6

Should this be titled “Rolling moss gathers no stones”?

From Figure 3, they dominantly roll uphill.

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

PermeateFree said:

The moss isn’t propelled by a slope, the wind, or the sun, but the group moves in sync

In parts of Alaska and Iceland, glacier mice roam wild.

While glacier mice look small and fluffy, they aren’t rodents or even animals—they’re lumps of moss about the size of a flattened softball. Their name comes from a 1951 report in the Journal of Glaciology, when an Icelandic researcher referred to them as jökla-mýs, glacier mice. Now, new research takes a close look at moss ball locomotion.

The study, published last month in the journal Polar Biology, shows that glacier mice can live for years and that herds of them move together in sync. But the researchers aren’t sure yet why that is, as NPR’s Nell Greenfieldboyce reports.

Together the team analyzed the data of the moss balls’ movement and found that they roll about an inch each day. The moss balls seem to insulate the ice below them, so as the glacier surface melts, each ball is sitting on a small pedestal. Eventually, it tumbles off.

“The whole colony of moss balls, this whole grouping, moves at about the same speeds and in the same directions,” Bartholomaus tells NPR. “Those speeds and directions can change over the course of weeks.”

The glacier mice didn’t follow any pattern that the researchers checked. The moss wasn’t rolling down a slope, getting pushed by the wind, or following the sun.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/herds-moss-balls-mysteriously-roam-arctic-together-180975019/

> they roll about an inch each day

That’s fast.

> The glacier mice didn’t follow any pattern that the researchers checked. The moss wasn’t rolling down a slope, getting pushed by the wind, or following the sun.

Sure about that? Do they contain beetles or worms?

Article at https://sci-hub.tw/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-020-02675-6

Should this be titled “Rolling moss gathers no stones”?

From Figure 3, they dominantly roll uphill.

Link not work.

PermeateFree said:

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

> they roll about an inch each day

That’s fast.

> The glacier mice didn’t follow any pattern that the researchers checked. The moss wasn’t rolling down a slope, getting pushed by the wind, or following the sun.

Sure about that? Do they contain beetles or worms?

Article at https://sci-hub.tw/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-020-02675-6

Should this be titled “Rolling moss gathers no stones”?

From Figure 3, they dominantly roll uphill.

Link not work.

Some bad linkage, try this link…

furious said:

PermeateFree said:

mollwollfumble said:

Article at https://sci-hub.tw/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-020-02675-6

Should this be titled “Rolling moss gathers no stones”?

From Figure 3, they dominantly roll uphill.

Link not work.

Some bad linkage, try this link…

Thanks

PermeateFree said:

furious said:

PermeateFree said:

Link not work.

Some bad linkage, try this link…

Thanks

Unfortunately, it looks like you need a subscription to see figure 3 ( and everything else)

https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/s00300-020-02675-6?sharing_token=HN75pdcTvlF-_qsfv-ejJPe4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY5WBKeqwPhH-J_RhmuMGX2k3CByeg6kB7QTeIlLQSOoB6DjLsODKdvpBOXYhu0izw-R4ZZso2efOF9pMLeCch14qWcomyhamEEkykx_VMBcm4ktfWg4Zvv0uPCad7ye94s%3D

Michael V said:

https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/s00300-020-02675-6?sharing_token=HN75pdcTvlF-_qsfv-ejJPe4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY5WBKeqwPhH-J_RhmuMGX2k3CByeg6kB7QTeIlLQSOoB6DjLsODKdvpBOXYhu0izw-R4ZZso2efOF9pMLeCch14qWcomyhamEEkykx_VMBcm4ktfWg4Zvv0uPCad7ye94s%3D

Thanks

We also showed that mature moss balls are long-lived, with an average life expectancy of more than 6years. The potential for glacier moss balls to act as relatively stable, long-term ecological units highlight their potential to act as key biotic habitat. Coulson and Midgley (2012) previously described inver-tebrate colonization of glacier moss balls and suggested that a lack of Enchytraeidae and Aranea may be the result of the ephemerality of moss balls in glacier habitats. Our results contrast this idea. Instead, we postulate that selec-tive invertebrate colonization of glacier moss balls depends instead on their locations and frequent movements or, as Coulson and Midgley (2012) noted, the variable dispersal capacities of colonizers. Given the importance of microbial diversity to carbon cycling (Anesio etal. 2009), ecosystem function (Anesio etal. 2017; Hotaling etal. 2017a,b), and even albedo (Ganey etal. 2017), future efforts to under-stand the microbial ecology of glacier moss balls will further illuminate their ecological role in glacier ecosystems. Like cryoconite, the granular, darkly pigmented dust on glacier surfaces that drive hotspots of microbial activity (Cook etal. 2016), glacier moss balls may have similar value at the eco-system scale.

Be an interesting study.