Moss & Lichen: Which One Is Actually a Plant? 

You could make a side show all about fungi called journey to mycocosmos

Really missed an opportunity to say “Please lichen subscribe”

It’s only a matter of time till lichen discovers fire

I was certain that the 'moss and tardigrade' footage was a still image, but then I saw the tardigrade and it blew my mind. Absolutely stunning as always.

*Sees moss with light artefacts* "Ooh, disco moss."

This one makes me VERY happy... bryophytes and lichens don't get enough love.

I've always felt like lichens are the sort of terrestrial equivalent of corals

me on a hike touching lichen gently: "tell me secrets of the past, primordial friend"

Only 6 minutes... WE NEED MORE!!! more of fungi and mosses.

Wait this was too short! I need to know more about lichens!!

i would LOVE to see more mosses and fungi up close on this channel!

I zoned out for about 2 minutes, this is way too relaxing

"... wonder what other secrets they might possibly hide" This makes me remember the time when my brother and I as kids brought flashlights along on vacation -- and promptly started 'interrogating' mushrooms in the style common in crappy TV shows of the era.

For people who want more, I recommend Robin Wall Kimmerer's book GATHERING MOSS.

Reminded me of first semester biology lab and the Biological Progression field trip. First, there's bare rock. Second, there are lichens. The lichens break down a tiny bit of the rock and leave organic material in the mix, creating a basic soil. Third, moss spores that have landed in the soil come to life, and patches of moss grow wider and make the soil layer slightly deeper. Fourth and so on, with higher plants, like shrubs, small trees, larger trees. Eventually, climax communities. We'd hiked a bit to get to that spot, the place where we could, without turning our heads, see everything in the progression from solid rock to lichen, to mosses, to shrubs, to alders, to Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar. When I'd processed it, I must admit I was blown away by the scope and power of life on this planet and how bare minerals can eventually become covered with plants and animals. I have looked at lichen with reverence ever since. Lichens start the process of biological progression, and if it weren't for them, my region would be bare rock and not much else. I grew up amid moss-covered trees and dark, ancient forests. Lichens didn't get enough credit out there, even though the ancient rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula were all started after the ice age ended when lichens took hold of the bare rocks, and even though some folks used certain of the myriad local lichens medicinally, as well. After the eruption of Mt St Helens, I was able to reassure a few people I knew that forests would grow on again on what was left of that mountain. "Life will find a way."

It’s so strange/different hearing calm, soothing Hank

4:58 TARDIGRADE SIGHTING! MOSS PIGLET ON THE MOSS!

"it's the moss. Moss is the plant." Thanks XD

That was fantastic. I would love to see more videos on lichens, I think they are truly amazing organisms. Mosses are cool, but lichens are bizarrely unique. Thank you.

Only if my biology lab could have been like this, you guys are amazing

"The tardigrade lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it can't. Not without your help. But you're not helping." "Whaddya mean I'm not helping?" "I mean you're not helping. Why is that, Leon?"

What a good birthday present! And actually really appropriate. I've run a moss terrarium workshop, and one of the elderly folks remembered me as the "moss lady" afterward lol. Does anyone else here keep moss terrariums?

Ha! It's like you guys read my mind. I just collected a bunch of lichen and mosses while I was on vacay (currently paper-bagged and awaiting spare time for me to revive, study, and try to ID them, and hopefully scope out some tardigrades).

A little more about lichen micro structure please!

Six percent of the Earth’s surface!!! (Minus the little sample of lichen I brought home from a hike today.) More lichen and moss episodes, please!

I like how calm hank is being here as opposed to Sci Show where he is equally entertaining but much more high strung.

This channel makes me feel calm, and I enjoy it a lot. Thank you for making these videos.

every since I was a child climbing trees lichen has always fascinated me. thanks for making this video!

I'm back to this channel since you guys started up, and im so glad my suggestion was taken from back then!! There's a reference ruler in the corner!!! you guys are awesome

The shot of the moss and tardigrade is one of my favourites yet I think ❤️ I've bean learning about moss and more recently, fungi, so it was neat to be able to see this episode. Thank you!

I cannot emphasize how much I love this channel. Every aspect is just amazing: the narration, the music. I felt hypnotized. I find it way more visually stunning than any CGI seen on movies and series. ❤️❤️❤️

4:57 Hank: Check out this moss... Water bear: Haaaay guys welcome to my crib!

Wow only 52k views? This channel is criminally underrated. Def gonna be sharing with my friends

Hank, your work is top notch. Thanks for the quality content for as long as you have.

I thought you were going to say... live long and prosper!! Seriously. You made my day. My best things ever are mosses, lichens and tardigrades. And this was all of them. Are you going to do a longer show on said subject. Thanks again.

I don't understand anyone who can walk last miss and never look at it.... But miss has always been my favorite plant. Lichens are also a beautiful, intricately shaped organism and is so many colors, yellow, green, white, pink....fascinating!

“Alice-Algae met a real Fungi, and the took a Lichen to each other.”

My favourite channel on RU-vid. Thankyou for amazing videos.

Your calm, measured voice is a welcome balm in these troubled times. Thank you.

great episode!

This is the first channel/online video content creator I consider becoming a Patreon of. I do not need a Hulu, Disney+ subscription for arbitrary shows that I will never watch. This here is my sort of entertainment.

Really enjoy these videos🔬💚

Had to watch it twice you’re voice is incredibly soothing (second time was to actually pay attention)

love it, great vid

I love growing moss and lichen and covering my potted plants soil with them. @4:57 That is such a gorgeous image.

What a beatiful content this Chanel has! Thanks very much

I love this channel. Just love it.

Today's vlog Brothers episode peaked my curiosity and here I am, hearing Hank's lovely voice once again

Ooh I've been fascinated by lichen ever since learning about them. I think from a SciShow video, too. Thanks for teaching me some more!

Lovely video !!!

I really like the way you narrate it

Woah! When did you talk about vascular plants?? We need that!

Fascinating. Next time I see moss and lichen on a walk I will certainly give them more attention, so alongside my binoculars I will also take a magnifying glass...

I am so happy you are covering lichens!!! You should definitely try to cover Microsporidia in a future video, and try to get video of a cell being parasitized. A note on the referenced study: While the 2019 study did show that lichenized fungi and their algal symbionts reached land after vascular plants, it is important to remember that the term "lichen" refers to many diverse lineages of fungi that have convergently evolved the lichenized phenotype at various times in prehistory. It's still possible and quite likely that forms of now extinct lichenized fungi colonized land well before the terrestrialization of plants. Besides Prototaxites, fungi just aren't very good at fossilization unfortunately :(

cool episode. nice music

Love you guys

Wow just wow fascinating stuff

Thx, as Mary Pop said - These are a few of my favourite things

Do one on liverworts and hornworts please!

Mass iteration over deep time is always so woefully underestimated.

good video thank you

YESSSSS!! I asked for this so long ago. Am a huge lichen nerd.

Good stuff

I want more! More details!

The music is so good.

amazing❤️

So basically Lichen is fungi that introduced Agriculture having Symbiotic relationship with Algae(Probably Cyanobacteria) for photosynthesis and Nutrient and UV Protection in return from fungi where as Moss is Bryophyte(Non-Vascular plant that does not have Xylem to transmit water And Phoelem to Transmit Food) and it is way greener in appearance

What is faster: Lichen turning stone into soil, or humans turning beef into more humans?

Will you make a video on springtails one day? I'd love that, although I know they're not aquatic

The Ad from Headspace fits perfect with your narration.

Love moss! And i totally didnt know that about lichens! Last week i thought of a great show idea! I would love to see the microbes in the human gut! No poo is required, you could just culture the ones in the probiotics you can buy. Would love to see what im growing inside me!

"The orange blobs are just light artifacts." Whew! I thought I was tripping balls, man!

I love stentors and rotiferes and tardigrades, but I think this was my favorite episode of Microcosmos so far. ❤️ Thank you.

I was hoping for lichen spores just based on descriptions of them I've read in the past. As someone who grew up in Florida Scrub lands we see lichens growing directly from the sugar sand a lot, including one that looks like the tips were dipped in red paint.

I love how Fungi saved life on earth by evolving the ability to breakdown cellulose otherwise the world would have run out of CO2.

It's nice to have a video to accompany the new Minecraft snapshot release, which adds lichens to the game.

Thanks to this video I finally rediscovered a sci-fi novel I read as a kid: Interstellar Pig! The spark I needed is that one of the alien races described in the book is a "carnivorous lichen".

I love this video

Beautiful

I read a little bit about Lichens conquering prehistoric land in Lynn Margulis´ book Symbiotic Planet when se mentioned the Hypersea Theory of McMenamin, it sounds poetic :)

Commenting for support.

thnak you

This new soundtrack is amazing! Where can I find the full songs?

Thank You 🤗 I like this macro/micro world...FANTASTIC it is the basic of life 💚💚💚

I love mosses and lichens!

can this please be ported to a podcast I need this to fall asleep to

I have a small inverted microscope I tried making a oblique illumination filter I put it in the filter holder but it did not work. please let me know how I could fix this or explain how to make oblique illumination filter.

Moss is so nice and soft and beautiful, I love it!

This makes me imagine a giant being, looking at Earth under its microscope, initially classifying Rainforests like the Amazon and the Congo Basin as Organisms… only for their species’s technology to later get better, and for another giant to look and realize that there’s loads of *stuff* in there??? And I love it!!!! The different lichens aren’t different *species*, they’re different *biomes*, and that’s so cool!!!!!!!

hell, your videos are poetry

This video totally put me in a trance which was super relaxing, but all I remember is that moss is a plant but only sort of vascular.

You need more views dammit! Your voice is definitely TV material and the sound is, I don't know what you use to record yourself, but it sounds like movie-quality sound... I rarely hear such good voice sound on RU-vid.

I really love the show. You should check up on utricularia. They are tiny carnivore plants. Id love a episode about Them.

It's the moss, 🤣🤣🤣🤯. Noooooo? Nice delivery. The narrators on this channel are epic.

As a forager and student of the forest i find both lichens and moss as super cool.

Mosses are genuinely my favorite type of plant. They can grow in most places, they're important for the environment, and tardigrades like to live on them. Many can also survive being dehydrated for a long time, coming back when hydrated and continuing on life as usual. What's not to love about it?

Yes!!! It was great to the little creature ( tardigrade) moving or floating next to the moss!!!!

@ 1:14 I happen to find mosses and lichens to be fascinating. Sadly I don't know much about either, but I do know that lichens are a symbiosis between an algae and a fungus. I'll keep watching to find out more.

5:00, Moss, and tardigrade for scale ;D

When's your high quality picture hardback microcosmos book coming out? Soon I hope!