When an asteroid slammed into Earth 65 million years ago, sending clouds of iridium-laced dust into the sky, it was these adaptations that helped ferns survive, while 75 percent of living things, including the non-flying dinosaurs, went extinct. Ferns were the first plants to leaf out on the devasted ground. For at least 1,000 years following the impact, ferns flourished.
Are ferns successful competitors, or forest facilitators?
Read The Outside Story.
Catherine Schmitt 