This wouldn’t have been possible without support from the @ukri.org @hfspo.bsky.social @leverhulme.ac.uk – and the nurse log specimen is now accessioned into @ntlmuseumsscot.bsky.social 6/6

Our findings extend the fossil evidence for this key ecological strategy and importantly demonstrate the close evolutionary links between fungi, plants and animals for forest regeneration 5/6

This decaying conifer wood preserves evidence of white pocket rot; two types of arthropod boring, likely by beetles and mites; and colonisation by small roots. It therefore preserved evidence of a rich ecosystem occurring on the floor of a Jurassic forest 4/6

To investigate the prevalence of this strategy we searched for new fossil nurse logs and reviewed existing literature. We discovered the first nurse log from Scotland, and only the second known from the Jurassic Period 3/6

Seedling establishment on the forest floor is a challenging process. Plants have therefore adapted to make use of dead wood as a seed bed. This decaying wood can act as a nursery for seedlings and is termed a nurse log.
In conifer forests today nurse logs support >90% of germinating seedlings 2/6