Adaptation, acclimation, and refugia: How mosses survive and thrive in the desert

Abstract

While the thought of mosses may conjure up a scene of a damp, dark forest, mosses are actually common in deserts. This talk will cover some of my recent research on the genetic, physiological, and ecological adaptations that mosses in the genus Syntrichia (Pottiaceae) have to survive in the high light and low water habitat of California’s Mojave Desert.

Jenna Ekwealor

Biodiversity Genomics Postdoctoral Researcher

I am a Biodiversity Genomics Postdoctoral Fellow studying evolutionary eco-physiology of stress tolerance in plants with the Smithsonian Institution Data Science Lab.