BBC Inside Science World’s oldest forest fossils
Apr 11, 2024
Dr. Christopher Berry discusses the world's oldest forest fossils, revealing evolutionary secrets. Dr. Chris Thorogood talks about the quest to save Rafflesia plants. The podcast also covers gardening challenges, embracing slugs and snails, and the debate on bottled water vs. tap water. Plus, insights on microorganism survival in chlorinated water and fluoride in UK tap water.
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Discovery Of A 390 Million Year Old Cladoxylopsid Forest
- The newly found fossil forest near Minehead contains trunks of cladoxylopsid trees dating to about 390 million years ago.
- These trees had vascular strands in a ring, no leaves, and lateral twiggy branches rather than a solid woody trunk, revealed by Dr Christopher Berry's identification.
How Devonian Trees Transformed Terrestrial Ecosystems
- Before the Devonian, land vegetation was low, mosslike and a few tens of centimetres high; the Devonian saw the first large plants that restructured Earth's systems.
- Cladoxylopsids grew upright to around eye-level or taller with hundreds of lateral branches, creating dense litter and millipede habitats, explained by Dr Christopher Berry.
Why Cladoxylopsids Went Extinct
- Cladoxylopsids were not ancestors of modern trees but dominant in their time and later outcompeted by woody trees with vertical trunks and broad leaves.
- The rise of woody, leafy trees sparked an evolutionary 'arms race' to grow taller and intercept light more efficiently.