The Colorado River is approaching thresholds its dams were never meant to cross. What happens next could transform how water and electricity move across the American Southwest.

While moss form vital substrates that allow more complex plant and animal life to move into new ecological niches, the plants themselves are often seen as simple lifeforms.

Below the U.S. Army’s Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, lies Bobcat Cave—a well-monitored karst cave system already known for its endemic species, such as the Alabama cave shrimp.