Science, Space and Technology News 2024
Sanfordiacaulis model with simplified branching structure for easier visualization. Note that humans are provided for scale but did not exist concurrently with the tree. Credit: Tim Stonesifer
“The way in which this tree produced hugely long leaves around its spindly trunk, and the sheer number over a short length of trunk, is startling,” says Robert Gastaldo of Colby College in Waterville, Maine. The fossils in question were preserved by earthquake-induced, catastrophic burial of trees and other vegetation along the margin of a rift lake. The first fossil tree was unearthed about 7 years ago from a quarry, but it only included one partial sample. It took several years for another four specimens of the same plant, in close spatial proximity, to also be found, Gastaldo says.One of the specimens revealed how the leaves departed from the top of the tree, which makes it “absolutely unique.
The researchers report that the tree likely relied on its unusual growth form to maximize the amount of light it could capture and reduce its competition with other plants on the ground. They suggest that the tree now represents the earliest evidence of smaller trees growing beneath a taller forest canopy.
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