A Devonian root system at the Cairo fossil forest site. Image credit: Stein et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.11.067.
SciNews has a post about the oldest forest ever discovered. Located in Cairo, NY, near the Devonian fossil forest found near Gilboa, this forest has been dated to about 386 million years old, which is a couple million years older. Details can be found in a paper which was recently published in the journal Current Biology.
“The Devonian period represents a time in which the first forest appeared on Earth,” said Binghamton University’s Professor William Stein.
“The effects were of first order magnitude, in terms of changes in ecosystems, what happens on the Earth’s surface and oceans, carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere, and global climate.”
“So many dramatic changes occurred at that time as a result of those original forests that basically, the world has never been the same since.”
Professor Stein and colleagues found that the Cairo forest was home to at least three unique root systems.
First, they identified a rooting system that they believe belonged to a palm tree-like plant called Eospermatopteris.
