The world's 10 oldest living trees

There are colonies of clonal trees that have lived for tens of thousands of years, but there's something majestic about a single tree able to stand on its own for millennia. These ancient trees have bore witness to the rise and fall of civilizations, survived changing climates, and even persevered through the fervent development of human industry. They are a testament to the long view that Mother Nature takes in tending the Earth. With that in mind, consider the world's 10 oldest living trees.

Photo:zest-pk/Flickr

Methuselah
At 4,841 years old, this ancient bristlecone pine is the oldest known non-clonal organism on Earth. Located in the White Mountains of California, in Inyo National Forest, Methuselah's exact location is kept a close secret in order to protect it from the public. (An older specimen named Prometheus, which was about 4,900 years old, was cut down by a researcher in 1964 with the U.S. Forest Service's permission.) Today you can visit the grove where Methuselah hides, but you'll have to guess at which tree it is. Could this one be it?

Photo:Rick Goldwasser/Flickr

Sarv-e Abarqu
Sarv-e Abarqu, also called the "Zoroastrian Sarv," is a cypress tree in Yazd province, Iran. The tree is estimated to be at least 4,000 years old and, having lived through the dawn of human civilization not far away, it is considered an Iranian national monument. Many have noted that Sarv-e Abarqu is most likely the oldest living thing in Asia.

Photo:iranian.com

Llangernyw Yew
This incredible yew resides in a small churchyard of St. Dygain's Church in Llangernyw village, north Wales. About 4,000 years old, the Llangernyw Yew was planted sometime in the prehistoric Bronze Age — and it's still growing! In 2002, in celebration of the golden jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, the tree was designated as one of 50 Great British trees by the Tree Council.

Photo:Wiki Commons

Alerce
The Alerce is a common name for Fitzroya cupressoides, a towering tree species native to the Andes mountains. There's almost no telling how old these trees can get, since most of the larger specimens were heavily logged in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many botanists believe they are the second-longest living trees on Earth aside from the bristlecone pine of North America. To date, the oldest known living specimen is 3,640 years old.

Photo:Wiki Commons/GNU

The Senator

The Senator, located in Florida, is the largest bald cypress tree in the United States, and it is widely considered the oldest of its species known to exist. It is likely the largest U.S. tree of any species east of the Mississippi River. Estimated to be around 3,500 years old, the Senator was used as a landmark for the Seminole indians and other native tribes. The Senator's size is particularly impressive because it has endured many hurricanes, including one in 1925 which reduced its height by 40 feet.

The tree gets its name from from Sen. M.O. Overstreet, who donated the tree and surrounding land in 1927.

Update 1.17.12: It is with a heavy heart that we report that 'The Senator' has burned to the ground. 
Árbol de 3500 años se incendia y colapsa por imprudencia de adicta a drogas

Photo:Ashley Schmidt/Wiki Commons

Patriarca da Floresta

This tree, an example of the species Cariniana legalis named Patriarca da Floresta in Brazil, is estimated to be about 3,000 years old, making it the oldest non-conifer in Brazil. The tree is believed to be sacred, but its species is widely threatened due to forest clearing in Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela.

Photo:bocaberta.org

Olive Tree of Vouves

This ancient olive tree is located on the Greek island of Crete and is one of seven olive trees in the Mediterranean believed to be at least 2,000 to 3,000 years old. Although its exact age cannot be verified, the Olive Tree of Vouves might be the oldest among them, estimated at over 3,000 years old. It still produces olives, and they are highly prized. Olive trees are hardy and drought-, disease- and fire-resistant — part of the reason for their longevity and their widespread use in the region.

 

Photo: Carmel Jane Doak/Panorami

Jōmon Sugi

Jōmon Sugi, located in Yakushima, Japan, is the oldest and largest cryptomeria tree on the island, and is one of many reasons why the island was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The tree dates to at least 2,000 years old, but some experts believe it could be older than 5,000 years old. Under that theory, it's possible that Jōmon Sugi is the oldest tree in the world — even older than Methuselah. Regardless of the numbers, it's a tree that deserves mention here.

  

Photo:Wiki Commons/GNU

Chestnut Tree of One Hundred Horses

This tree, located on Mount Etna in Sicily, is the largest and oldest known chestnut tree in the world. Believed to be between 2,000 and 4,000 years old, this tree's age is particularly impressive because Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. The tree sits only 5 miles from Etna's crater. The tree's name originated from a legend in which a company of 100 knights were caught in a severe thunderstorm. According to the legend, all of them were able to take shelter under the massive tree. It is listed by Guinness World Records as having the "greatest tree girth ever," at 190 feet in circumference.

  

Photo:Wiki Commons/GNU

General Sherman
Believed to be around 2,500 years old, General Sherman is the mightiest giant sequoia still standing. The volume of its trunk alone makes it the largest non-clonal tree by volume in the world, even though its largest branch broke off in 2006, smashing part of its enclosing fence and cratering the pavement of the surrounding walkway. Perhaps this was a sign that General Sherman could not be caged in? Sherman can be found in Sequoia National Park in California, where five of the 10 largest trees in the world exist.

 

Photo:Wiki Commons

ORIGINAL: Mother Nature Network
Apr 07, 2010

En 40 años podrían escasear páramos y bosques andinos

ORIGINAL: Noticias Universidad Nacional

Los páramos y bosques andinos requieren de cuidado y estudio inmediato para evitar su degradación futura.
Fotos: Medellín/Unimedios.

Medellín, Jul. 30 de 2012 - Agencia de Noticias UN- Esa es la preocupante proyección que podría presentarse en estos ecosistemas andinos y tropicales si continúa la degradación a causa del cambio climático y del mal uso humano de los recursos naturales.

La degradación se entiende, para este caso, como la desviación paulatina y física de un espacio natural. A este fenómeno –que en las últimas décadas afecta las zonas andinas de países como Ecuador, Perú y Colombia– se le suman problemas asociados con la misma naturaleza, así como aspectos socioculturales, necesidad de más investigación, y riesgo en la sostenibilidad para las próximas generaciones.

Nikolay Aguirre, investigador en restauración ecológica de la Universidad de Loja (Ecuador) menciona que la degradación se origina también por “el cambio en los usos del suelo, teniendo en cuenta que los bosques que antes brindaban servicios ambientales para la gente, ahora han cambiado por pastos y cultivos debido a la necesidad alimentaria y al crecimiento de la población”. 

Aunque dicha transición obedece a temas socioculturales y a la necesidad de subsistencia, el investigador ecuatoriano dice que, no obstante, “la población explota los recursos naturales sin pensar en el uso exagerado de los mismos y en la sostenibilidad para el futuro”, y agrega que ello puede representar unos recursos y ecosistemas totalmente degradados. 

Según los diagnósticos que ha encontrado Nikolay Aguirre, en algunas zonas andinas como en Quito (Ecuador), posiblemente en 40 años no habría generación de agua para la mitad de esa población como la hay en la actualidad; también explicó que esta situación se puede replicar para las regiones colombianas por la similitud física y climática en la región. 

De acuerdo con las necesidades del presente, se está generando una cultura de restaurar, es decir, de reconstruir y recuperar la funcionalidad de algunos ecosistemas, su diversidad, así como la oferta de bienes y servicios de los sistemas naturales para el bienestar de la sociedad. Esta idea parte de algunas exploraciones sobre el tema, las cuales arrojan que por lo menos un 40% o 50% de los páramos andinos están siendo degradados debido a la alteración climática actual. 

Como propuesta para solucionar parte de la problemática natural, el investigador Aguirre invita a construir sinergias para ofertar los resultados investigativos a las personas que toman decisiones, ya que hace falta más cooperación entre universidades y naciones que comparten una misma dificultad natural. 

En ese sentido, el experto destaca la importancia de eventos de intercambio de conocimientos como el II Curso Internacional de Ecohidrología Tropical “Conservación y Restauración de Ecosistemas Tropicales”, desarrollado en la UN en Medellín, donde tuvo la oportunidad de compartir sus hallazgos.

(Por:Fin/hr/sup)

CU-Boulder-led team finds microbes in extreme environment on South American volcanoes

ORIGINAL: esciencenews

June 9, 2012

Earth & Climate

A team led by the University of Colorado Boulder looking for organisms that eke out a living in some of the most inhospitable soils on Earth has found a hardy few. A new DNA analysis of rocky soils in the Martian-like landscape on some volcanoes in South America has revealed a handful of bacteria, fungi and other rudimentary organisms called archaea, which seem to have a different way of converting energy than their cousins elsewhere in the world.

"We haven't formally identified or characterized the species," said Ryan Lynch, a CU-Boulder doctoral student involved in the study. "But these are very different than anything else that has been cultured. Genetically, they're at least 5 percent different than anything else in the DNA database of 2.5 million sequences."

Life gets little encouragement on the incredibly dry slopes of the tallest volcanoes in the Atacama region, where CU-Boulder Professor Steve Schmidt and his team collected soil samples. Much of the sparse snow that falls on the terrain sublimates back to the atmosphere soon after it hits the ground, and the soil is so depleted of nutrients that nitrogen levels in the scientists' samples were below detection limits.

Ultraviolet radiation in the high-altitude environment can be twice as intense as in a low-elevation desert, said Schmidt of CU-Boulder's ecology and evolutionary biology department. While the researchers were on site, temperatures dropped to 14 degrees Fahrenheit (-15°C) one night and spiked to 133 F (56°C) the next day.

How the newfound organisms survive under such circumstances remains a mystery. Although Ryan, Schmidt and their colleagues looked for genes known to be involved in photosynthesis and peered into the cells using fluorescent techniques to look for chlorophyll, they couldn't find evidence that the microbes were photosynthetic.

Instead, they think the microbes might slowly generate energy by means of chemical reactions that extract energy and carbon from wisps of gases such as carbon monoxide and dimethylsulfide that blow into the desolate mountain area. The process wouldn't give the bugs a high-energy yield, Lynch said, but it could be enough as it adds up over time. A paper on the findings has been accepted by the Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, published by the American Geophysical Union.

While normal soil has thousands of microbial species in just a gram of soil, and garden soils even more, remarkably few species have made their home in the barren Atacama mountain soil, the new research suggests. "To find a community dominated by less than 20 species is pretty amazing for a soil microbiologist," Schmidt said.

He has studied sites in the Peruvian Andes where, four years after a glacier retreats, there are thriving, diverse microbe communities. But on these volcanoes on the Chile-Argentina border, which rise to altitudes of more than 19,685 feet and which have been ice-free for 48,000 years, the bacterial and fungal ecosystems have not undergone succession to more diverse communities. "It's mostly due to the lack of water, we think," he said. "Without water, you're not going to develop a complex community."

"Overall, there was a good bit lower diversity in the Atacama samples than you would find in most soils, including other mountainous mineral soils," Lynch said. That makes the Atacama microbes very unusual, he added. They probably had to adapt to the extremely harsh environment, or may have evolved in different directions than similar organisms elsewhere due to long-term geographic isolation.

Growth on the mountain might be intermittent, Schmidt suggested, especially if soils only have water for a short time after snowfall. In those situations, there could be microbes that grow when it snows, then fall dormant, perhaps for years, before they grow again. High-elevation sites are great places to study simple microbial communities, ecosystems that haven't evolved past the very basics of a few bacteria and fungi, Schmidt said.

"There are a lot of areas in the world that haven't been studied from a microbial perspective, and this is one of the main ones," he said. "We're interested in discovering new forms of life, and describing what those organisms are doing, how they make a living."

Schmidt's lab, along with others, is studying how microorganisms travel from one site to another. One common method of microbe transport is through the air -- they're caught up in winds, sucked up into clouds, form rain droplets and then fall back to the ground somewhere else as precipitation.

But on mountains like Volcán Llullaillaco and Volcán Socompa, the high UV radiation and extreme temperatures make the landscape inhospitable to outside microbes. "This environment is so restrictive, most of those things that are raining down are killed immediately," Schmidt said. "There's a huge environmental filter here that's keeping most of these things from growing."

The next steps for the researchers are laboratory experiments using an incubator that can mimic the extreme temperature fluctuations to better understand how any organism can live in such an unfriendly environment. Studying the microbes and finding out how they can live at such an extreme can help set boundaries for life on Earth, Schmidt said, and tells scientists what life can stand. There's a possibility that some of the extremophiles might utilize completely new forms of metabolism, converting energy in a novel way.

Schmidt also is working with astrobiologists to model what past conditions were like on Mars. With their rocky terrain, thin atmosphere and high radiation, the Atacama volcanoes are some of the most similar places on Earth to the Red Planet.

"If we know, on Earth, what the outer limits for life were, and they know what the paleoclimates on Mars were like, we may have a better idea of what could have lived there," he said.

Other paper authors included Andrew King of Ecosystem Sciences, CSIRO Black Mountain in Acton, Australia; Mariá Farías of Laboratorio de Investigaciones Microbiologicas de Lagunas Andinas, Planta Piloto de Procesos Industriales Microbiologicos, CCT, CONICET in Tucuman, Argentina; Preston Sowell of Geomega, an environmental consulting firm in Boulder; and Christian Vitry of Museo de Arqueologia de Alta Montana in Salta, Argentina.

Source: University of Colorado at Boulder