Is the World's Oldest Tree Growing In a Ravine In Chile? (science.org) 18
sciencehabit shares a report from Science Magazine: Some 5400 years ago, about the time humans were inventing writing, an alerce tree (Fitzroya cupressoides) may have started to grow in the coastal mountains of present-day Chile. Sheltered in a cool, damp ravine, it avoided fires and logging that claimed many others of its kind, and it grew into a grizzled giant more than 4 meters across. Much of the trunk died, part of the crown fell away, and the tree became festooned with mosses, lichens, and even other trees that took root in its crevices. Now, the tree -- known as the Alerce Milenario or Gran Abuelo (great-grandfather) tree -- might claim a new and extraordinary title: the oldest living individual on Earth.
Using a combination of computer models and traditional methods for calculating tree age, Jonathan Barichivich, a Chilean environmental scientist who works at the Climate and Environmental Sciences Laboratory in Paris, has estimated that the Alerce Milenario is probably more than 5000 years old. That would make it at least 1 century senior to the current record holder: Methuselah, a bristlecone pine in eastern California with 4853 years' worth of annual growth rings under its gnarled bark. (Some clonal trees that originate from a common root systems, such as that of the Utah-based aspen colony known as "Pando," are thought to be older, but dendrochronologists tend to focus on individual trunks with countable rings.) Many dendrochronologists are likely to be skeptical of Barichivich's claim, which has not yet been published, because it does not involve a full count of tree growth rings. But at least some experts are open to the possibility. "I fully trust the analysis that Jonathan has made," says Harald Bugmann, a dendrochronologist at ETH Zurich. "It sounds like a very smart approach."
Using a combination of computer models and traditional methods for calculating tree age, Jonathan Barichivich, a Chilean environmental scientist who works at the Climate and Environmental Sciences Laboratory in Paris, has estimated that the Alerce Milenario is probably more than 5000 years old. That would make it at least 1 century senior to the current record holder: Methuselah, a bristlecone pine in eastern California with 4853 years' worth of annual growth rings under its gnarled bark. (Some clonal trees that originate from a common root systems, such as that of the Utah-based aspen colony known as "Pando," are thought to be older, but dendrochronologists tend to focus on individual trunks with countable rings.) Many dendrochronologists are likely to be skeptical of Barichivich's claim, which has not yet been published, because it does not involve a full count of tree growth rings. But at least some experts are open to the possibility. "I fully trust the analysis that Jonathan has made," says Harald Bugmann, a dendrochronologist at ETH Zurich. "It sounds like a very smart approach."
Cool (Score:2)
"Sheltered in a cool, damp ravine, it avoided fires and logging that claimed many others of its kind, and it grew into a grizzled giant more than 4 meters across. Much of the trunk died, part of the crown fell away, and the tree became festooned with mosses, lichens, and even other trees that took root in its crevices."
Sounds like they've tracked down Treebeard.
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In a 1993 study, Lara and a colleague reported an alerce stump in southern Chile that had 3622 growth rings.
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There's also this article about a tree almost 10000 years old: https://www.umu.se/en/news/wor... [www.umu.se]
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Although that's a clonal tree - it's the colony that's thought to be 10000 years old, not an individual.
Pictures (Score:2)
This article needs many more pictures.
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Google Images [google.is] will help, if you only want to see what alerce trees normally look like.
BTW, if they look like Sequoias and Redwoods, that's no coincidence. The family Cupressaceae is jam-packed with giants. Giant Sequoia, Coast Redwood, Alerce, Taiwania, Sugi, Montezuma Cypress (highest diameter tree in the world [knovhov.com], record=11,42m), Western Redcedar (most massive "cold-tolerant" tree), Formosan Cypress, etc. The family just seems to be genetically predisposed to the ability to reach massive scales.
Clonal tree? (Score:1)
Please, no rumors of its wood curing baldness (Score:2)
Or anything else. We know what would happen, right?
Re:Please, no rumors of its wood curing baldness (Score:5, Funny)
Don't worry - it doesn't cure baldness, it's just an aphrodisiac.
It is not the oldest living thing by a long shot (Score:2)
Right under my microscope is a protozoa that is 4 Billion years old!
Actually they all are. From the earliest proto-bacteria they just divided and divided, changing along the way, but never giving birth, just dividing. So every single cell animal alive to day is actually 4 billion years old.
Are questions in headlines useful? (Score:1)
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In the interest of getting with the times, I propose "qe", "qer" for cheap clickbait makers, like BeauHD, msmash, and EditorDavid. They have identified themselves through their works.
If that's too modern, let me remind you of the age old "s/h/it", "s/h/its" that would've been apt here.
it's only a model (Score:3)
"Many dendrochronologists are likely to be skeptical" and rightly so.
What this report provides is a glorified guess.
I'm going to err on the side of the report and say that even if all of its methods were rigorous, proved with empirical testing, and such, in any case the error-bars on what amounts to a "it's about X years old" estimate are HUGE, particularly in an environment that is possibly unique.
Huh? (Score:2)
Why is this article posed as a question to slashdot readers? I am glad the editors think among us are the experts on this topic!
Curiosity killed the cat (Score:2)
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