南极苔藓层：气候变化的古老记录
At first glance, Antarctica's vast ice sheets and rocky valleys appear starkly lifeless. Yet hidden in scattered oases along the Peninsula and coastal nunataks lie unassuming mounds of vegetation—moss banks that have accumulated over millennia. These slow-growing polytrichaceous mosses, particularly species like *Chorisodontium aciphyllum*, form peat layers that can reach depths of several metres. For palaeoclimatologists, these organic archives offer a rare terrestrial record of environmental change in a region dominated by ice cores and marine sediments.
Coring these banks is a delicate operation. Using modified peat samplers, scientists extract cylindrical columns that preserve a continuous stratigraphy of growth, decay, and preserved cellular structures. Each centimetre of peat may represent decades or centuries of accumulation, with radiocarbon dating providing a chronological framework. Pollen grains, microscopic charcoal fragments, and shifts in moss leaf morphology all serve as proxies for past temperature, moisture, and wind patterns. In some banks, researchers have identified layers corresponding to the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age, revealing that even Antarctica's most resilient vegetation responds sensitively to climatic fluctuations.
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