Plant fossils have a lot to teach us about Earth's history
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As palaeontologists, rocks are our idea of a great gift. That's because when you crack them open, you might well find a fossil. And we aren't talking Slot Judi Online about dinosaurs: our tempat of specialisation is palaeobotany. This involves hunting for plant fossils which can tell us a great setuju about the landscapes of past ages.
South Africa is home to a kisaran of lesser known and neglected plant fossils, called the glossopterids. These trees once grew in vast swamps along with ancient plant grups such as ferns, horsetail ferns and clubmosses. We know from a few scattered reports that this amazingly rich fossil resource extends across much of Africa, particularly in Namibia, Slot Online Terpercaya Zimbabwe, Mozambique and further north into Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya and even Madagascar.
Some may wonder why fossils matter. Plants never get as much attention as South Africa's famous rich and diverse fossil heritage that kisaran from some of the earliest evidence of life thr
ough to its famous hominid collections. Glossopteris, for instance, has not been well studied in South Africa. It's still poorly understood.
There has been work done in different parts of the world. However, it is not detiled and each region uses its own sistem to try and understand these fossil plants. South Africa is lagging behind: there are two employed palaeobotanists in the country, while entire research tims eksis in other parts of the world.
Yet plants can reveal a great setuju about past environments and climates. If we have any hope of understanding South Africa's ancient past, scientists need to be able to reconstruct entire ecosystems, starting at the bottom of the food chain. Glossopteris dotted ancient landscapes before dinosaurs ever walked the earth, and before a singgel flower had bloomed. As such, it should be closely studied.
