We are all mourning this week the loss of Estella Leopold, great conservationist, paleobotanist, and my own academic grandmother. Estella founded the paleobotany program at #UW and built our understanding of how ecosystemas of the #PNW have changed over millions of years. Her collections and legacy are at the heart of all of the paleobotany work we do at the #BurkeMuseum. I'm so terribly honored to have known you.

https://www.wuwm.com/2024-02-28/aldo-leopold-daughter-estella-leopold-died

#Kelp is probably older than once thought--originating more than 32 million years ago! #Fossils from the Olympic Peninsula in Washington preserve holdfasts, the "roots" that anchor kelp to the seafloor. This ties kelps to the cooling of the Oligocene epoch!

Cool work and NPR interview from Jim Goedert!

#BurkeMuseum #paleo

https://www.npr.org/2024/01/23/1226146217/new-fossils-suggest-kelp-forests-have-swayed-in-the-seas-for-at-least-32-million

The lab is visiting the #BurkeMuseum again, this time with an eye seaward. The #OlympicPeninsula has yielded many #fossils of #marine #carnivores - #pinnipeds and the enigmatic "oyster #bear" - and we're working to reconstruct the #environments in which they lived.