forests through time
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As landforms and climate change over time, forests change with them. During the last ice age, for example, there was far less available land and the climate was cooler. Forests retreated to ice-free areas, and world forest cover was therefore greatly reduced.
tree fern
Tree ferns have existed for millions of years, and are one of the oldest types of plants. Photo by Maya Walters.
Amber, the hardened sap from ancient trees, can give us a window into Earth's distant past. Insects, plant material, and even small animals became trapped in the sweet, fluid tree sap millions of years ago and were perfectly preserved. Amber is found all over the world. One hundred million years ago, New Jersey was warm and swampy, covered with cedars and tropical trees. The discovery of amber from these ancient forests can tell us about the trees that lived then, and the insect species that were trapped in their resin.
During several periods when the climate in Africa was moister than it is now, the Sahara desert was almost entirely covered by scrub vegetation. Also during those times, many areas that are now savanna were dense tropical forests.
This information about past climates and forests has been discovered with the help of data from fossilized pollen, which can indicate what types of plants existed in what regions. Grains of pollen can form "microfossils" which can help us find out about the plants they originated from millions of years ago.

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sub-topics
[humans & forests] [temperate regions] [tropical regions] [prehistoric forests & amber] [ecological succession] [seasons]

related topics
[climate] [climate change] [pollen]

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