New fossils suggest kelp forests have swayed in the seas for at least 32 million years
A new study of kelp forests from the coast of Washington state show that kelp forests, which host all manner of marine life, developed tens of millions of years ago.
The kelp forests that hug the Pacific coastline are an underwater jungle. They're a thicket of colossal algae intermixed with a pageant of life that includes snails, urchins, sea lions, sea otters, and a host of seabirds.
"The current Pacific kelp forests are the base of very rich shallow marine ecosystems," says Cindy Looy, a paleobotanist at the University of California at Berkeley.
A study published in PNAS presents new evidence that the first kelps were much older than we once suspected, dating back 32 million years — well before the arrival of many of their present-day animal inhabitants.
This means that kelp was likely available as a food source for ancient marine mammals. And
