400-Year-Old Frozen Plants Entombed in Glacier Revived

Frozen plants that were buried under a glacier since the Little Ice Age about 400 years ago have been revived. The bryophytes beat the odds as they began to grow again after being collected in the field and taken to a lab.

Bryophytes are non-vascular plants such as mosses, honrworts and liverworts. They usually thrive in damp conditions and can survive being completely desiccated during long, Arctic winters. When spring arrives, though, they pop back to life, flourishing under favorable conditions.

When researchers discovered the plants near Teardrop Glacier at Sverdrup Pass in Canada, they knew they had something unusual. The glacier has slowly been retreating and uncovering an array of life, including cyanobacteria and green terrestrial algae. It's revealing many species that are new to science, providing a wealth of opportunities. The researchers spotted the bryophytes along the edge of the margin of the glacier, noticing a greenish tint. They then collected the samples for transport.

"When we looked at them in detail and brought them to the lab, I could see some of the stems actually had new growth of green lateral branches, and that said to me that these guys are regenerating in the field, and that blew my mind," said Catherine La Farge, the lead author, in an interview with BBC News.

It's extremely surprising to find a plant that's still viable after all of these years, but it seems like this particular bryophyte is specially adapted to the harsh climate. Bryophytes don't produce flowers or seeds. Instead, they produce asexually using spores or use clonal growth to create new individuals, according to io9.

In order to examine the age of these plants, the researchers used radio carbon dating. They were able to confirm that the plants were entombed in the ice about 400 years ago. They also tested their capacity for regrowth by grinding up stem and leaf tissue and watering it frequently on potted soil. It turns out that the different species were hardier than imagined; the researchers were able to grow 11 cultures from seven specimens, according to io9.

"These guys are really adept in extreme environments," said La Farge in an interview with io9. "Maybe astronauts would want to take bryophytes to other planets to see if they would grow and how they could modify extraterrestrial landscapes."

The findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.