The Tree Blog

Archive for the ‘Science’ Category

According to the LA Times, tree death rates have more than doubled over the last few decades in the old-growth forests of the western United States …

Apparently some scientists are pointing the finger at increased temperatures due to climate change.

If you think you’re getting old then spare a thought for the world’s oldest living tree.  Discovered in Sweden, radiocarbon dating of the lone Norway Spruce tree shows that it has been alive for over 9,550 years.

Had it been able to move, it could would have been when the Great Pyramid of Giza was built.  In fact, it was probably a sapling when humans first began to take their rudimentary tools to practice agriculture.

Spotted at National Geographic

Some also claim that Australia has the world’s oldest trees. However it is difficult to tell the exact age of the Huon Pine discovered in Tasmania. Some estimates are at over 10,000 years !

Both are classified as clonal trees. What this means is that while the tree is standing, the majority of it is actually dead, it is just the large and complex roots systems continue to grow indefinitely via a process similar to cloning.

Now that’s amazing.

The oldest known non-clonal tree, Prometheus, discovered in Nevada in the US was cut down in 1964. Methuselah is a non-clonal that is still alive in the White Mountains of California at an incredible 4,839 years of age.

Wattieza fossil

The fossil of a tree from 380 million years ago has been found in Schoharie County near Gilboa in New York – a giant tree fern called Wattieza (or technically Eospermatopteris Erianus).  There is an exhibit of it in the New York City museum.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1901623.htm

Now that’s a long time ago …

Interestingly, there were no leaves and it reproduced like a fungus using spores.