Plants are fairly commonplace, right? From the grass and flowers in your yard to the trees and shrubs you see during a hike in the mountains, our photosynthesizing friends are all around us, and might even be taken for granted sometimes. But plants make up a truly amazing kingdom on the tree of life.  Plants are responsible for establishing the different ecosystems and environments that you see on Earth; they make up a food group for many animals and insects; they even provide oxygen for us to breathe! To learn more about plants, check out the newest Backyard Biology episode, below:

Near the end of the episode, I explain how tree rings can tell us a lot more than just the age of a plant. Along with telling scientists about climate changes, they can also help scientists to accurately date archeological finds. The collapse of the Twin Towers in New York was a tragic event in our recent history, however underneath the rubble of these buildings, archaeologists made a startling discovery. They discovered the remains of a wooden ship! What was really amazing, is that archaeologists were able to date the building of the ship all the way back to 1773 by using information stored in the rings of the wood the ship was made of! The researchers working on dating the ship knew what type of tree the wood was, and using this information were able to determine where in the US the wood was felled (this came from the climate data in the rings which gave unique thicknesses for each year). It turns out that similar wood was used to build Independence Hall in Philadelphia, which was built between 1732 and 1756, so the archaeologists could thus date the ship back to this era as well! To learn more about this process, you can read this article from livescience.com.

Hope you enjoyed this episode of Backyard Biology! Remember to keep exploring the world around you! Feel free to leave comments/suggestions below and check out the Backyard Biology Instagram account for up-to-date pictures and fun facts! See you next time!