A new plant species that has been growing in the rocky surfaces of eastern Antarctica near India’s Bharti station has been discovered by a team of Indian botanists from Bhatinda.
Named Bryum bharatiensis after India is a dark-green and unbranched moss.
India has been operating two stations, Maitri and Bharati, in Antarctica since scientific explorations commenced in 1981. Dakshin Gangotri, the foremost station, functions as a pit stop to supply essentials to Indian scientists visiting Antarctica for research. Every year a select team of geologists, botanists, seismologists, meteorologists and others are sent on either a month, three-month, six-month or year-long expedition to Antarctica by the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
Head of Department of Botany. Felix Bast from the Central University of Punjab, Bhatinda (CUPB), was part of India’s 36th expedition to Antarctica in 2016-17. Samples of the newly discovered plant were collected and studied during this expedition. Results of this study were recently published in the Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity.
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For most of the year, Antarctica is covered by thick blankets of snow sheets, with isolated small rocky patches during summers. The survival of the new plant in Antarctica’s extreme weather conditions like harsh terrain, sunlight for only six months and sub-zero temperatures proves its highly adaptable nature.
“The sampling was done in January, that is during the summer season in Antarctica. The 1.5 to 3 cm-long moss was seen growing in patches at several sites near the Bharati station. The spores of this moss remain dormant and survive severe winters,” said Bast.
The team of scientists consisted of Kriti Gupta, head of the Department of Botany at DAV college, Bhatinda and Wahid Ul Rahman, a fourth-year PhD student at CUPB. They used morphology-based techniques and combined it with DNA sequencing tools to confirm the new species which, they said, had branched roots.
Though new species of microbes were discovered during similar expeditions earlier by Indian scientists, a plant species was not confirmed.
This is a significant discovery in broadening human understanding of our planet’s large and undiscovered aspects. It also highlights how global warming has created favourable land and weather conditions for plants to grow in Antarctica’s hostile conditions.
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“Slowly, Antarctica is turning green and temperate plants are being spotted here, which would otherwise not survive — an evidence of climate change,” said Bast.