Forests are among the most widespread and diverse biomes on our planet. This episode, we’re joined by our favorite paleobotanist, Dr. Aly Baumgartner, to explore what defines a forest, how these habitats function, and how they differ around the globe. Then, we’ll take a trip into the past to discuss how paleontologists study ancient forests and how these biomes have changed over hundreds of millions of years.

In the news: ocean sediments, early penguins, island foxes, Canadian dragonflies, and ancient deer.

Time markers:
Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00
News: 00:06:00
Main discussion, Part 1: 00:37:30
Main discussion, Part 2: 01:47:10
Patron question: 02:48:35

Check out our website for this episode’s blog post and more: http://commondescentpodcast.com/

Listen to more Plants with Aly on Leaf it to Us!
https://commondescentpodcast.com/leaf-it-to-us/

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The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org

Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0