h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Gosh whatever sort of moss that is has a great length! All our moss is a lot shorter.

Yes, this is a remarkable image.

I have no idea what kind of moss this is, if it is a moss.

Was it twenty below when the picture was taken? if so, that's hardy moss!

If a cow was covered with moss, would it be a moss-cow (Moscow)?

Thank you

Yes, it is a moss A87918655 but I don’t know which species - possibly bryum. The long stems are the fruits. It was cold after the snowfall, but only about 0C, not -20C like Solnushka experienced!

I don't know why I ikagine you to be in or near Moscow, Sasha.

I did get my name from Russian class at school, but I haven’t been to Russia as it was too difficult for me to go on the school trip that was arranged, sadly.

The Wirral is more suited to me - as a peninsula it tends to be milder in Winter, providing shelter for all the fascinating birds

Shelter for birds, and habitats for mosses, too

I like moss.

Does that mean that I'm weird?

I don't think it's weird to like moss.

When I've walked in woods, particularly in the wetter parts of the UK, I've noticed lots of different mosses on stones and tree trunks.

It's a truism that moss grows on the north side of tree trunks. And it mostly does in the Northern Hemisphere.

In the Southern hemisphere, it grows on the south side -- mostly.

I like moss because it forms a soft, downy cushion.

There are some places where mosses and ferns have the advantage over grasses.

Yes, I'm a big fan of moss I'm very lucky that the sandstone wall in this picture is such a good habitat for mosses, so I enjoy studying it throughout the year

Mosses were among the first land plants, around 470 million years ago.
35 million years later, ice sheets covered much of the planet, and mass extinctions occurred

Some scientists blame the mosses for removing too much carbon dioxide form the atmosphere, causing the ice age.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21417-first-land-plants-plunged-earth-into-ice-age/#:~:text=The%20first%20land%20plants%20appeared,and%20a%20mass%20extinction%20ensued.

This was not the most severe such glaciation. 650 million years ago, the earth became *very* cold. Appropriately enough, this was called the Cryogenic Period. I'm not making this up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowball_Earth

How would one escape from Snowball Earth? It would take a ot of volcanoes spewing carbon dioxidei into the air.

We only have one edited guide entry on glaciers, and it covers only part of the most recent ice age

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