By: Margaret McCarthy, Colby College
Ever seen a real-life glacier? We have! This week, all thirteen of us, Lily, Clau, and Danny drove to the coastal town of Caleta Tortel to study bryophytes and lichens near Jorge Montt Glacier.
For context, bryophytes are non-vascular plants, like mosses, liverworts, or hornworts. One of the first plants to colonize terrestrial land, bryophytes are over 450 million years old! Today, they’re present in almost every ecosystem on land, from forest floors to desert sand. They’re super small and don’t have roots, so their leaves absorb water and nutrients from the air instead. Lichens are a bit similar. They’re 90% “mycobiont,” or fungus, and 10% “photobiont,” or algae or cyanobacteria. They don’t have roots and absorb all of their nutrients from the air too. Because bryophytes and lichens don’t need soil to survive, they’re often the first organisms to colonize bare rock after glacier retreat. That’s why we’re studying them! The order in which plants appear after glacier retreat can tell us a lot about the ecological processes at play in that area.
An example of a moss.
An example of a lichen.
Our day began with a 7:00 AM breakfast. Once we’d packed lunch, we walked through the maze of Tortel’s boardwalk “streets,” down to the dock that we’d be launching out of at 9:00 AM. Our fjord boat ride to Jorge Montt Glacier, the northernmost glacier of the Southern Icefield, took about 2 hours. About halfway through our boat ride, we started noticing large icebergs floating in the water. They were breathtakingly beautiful, but it felt a bit heartbreaking to see them, too. Glacial melt has become a poster child of global warming, and it felt somber to see it close up. Jorge Montt Glacier, alone, has retreated about 22km since 1898.
View from the boat!
We stopped at two spots during our trip. First, land where the glacier had retreated about 30 years ago, and second, land where the glacier had retreated about 90 years ago, on the way back to Caleta Tortel.
Once the glacier was in full-view, our captains slowed the boat to find a place to dock. An ice-free patch left a perfect parking spot for us! Once docked, all sixteen of us walked around the edge of the boat and hopped onto the rock awaiting us. Here, there were bryophytes, lichens, small shrubs, and tiny trees. We ate lunch and paired off to study a small square of the ground beneath us. Gavin, Miles, and I identified a few moss, a liverwort, and a couple lichens in our square! There weren’t any tall shrubs or tall trees here, because they hadn’t had enough time to grow after the glacier’s retreat.
Soon, we hopped back into the boat and began heading back in the direction of Caleta Tortel. We docked at our second stop, noticing much taller shrubs and trees. Sixty years makes a big difference! This spot had a beach, too, and a couple of us swam with the icebergs. (Not me. Too freezing.) Again, we paired off to study a small square of land. Here, Miles and I noticed a new species of liverwort and a few new lichens!
Miles and I inspecting the Earth!
All of us getting back on the boat. Photo credit: C. Conklin
After finishing, we hopped back into the boat and started our journey back to Caleta Tortel, happily singing along to our captains’ 80s pop music. It was an unforgettable day!
Kate, Kiera, Cora, me, and Miles on the boat! Photo credit: D. Cayun