New moss spreads as climate change takes hold

A new type of moss has been found in the Netherlands. Ecologist Henk Siebel found kuifhaarmuts on a tree in Hilversum, NOS reports. Up until now this type of moss (scientific name Orthotrichum comosum) only occurred in mountainous areas around the Mediterranean sea. The moss thrives well in that area because of the warm, dry summers and wet winters. According to Siebel, his discovery of this type of moss in a Western European country is presumably the result of climate change, which has caused the micro-climates of Dutch inner cities to increasingly resemble that of the mountains around the Mediterranean.