Ancient Trees

When you think of ancient trees, you probably think of petrified wood. You may be shocked to know that there are some ancient trees that are still living. The oldest known living organism is a bristlecone pine in Nevada that is over 5000 years old. When this tree sprouted, writing was a new concept and Egypt was under the rule of its first pharaohs. In fact, the pyramids weren’t even built yet, although Stonehenge was an active construction site.

Bristlecone pine (US Forest Service)

Other ancient trees are the giant sequoias of California in the 3000 year old range and limber pines date back to the 3^rd to 5^th centuries. East of the Mississippi, the oldest tree is a northern whitecedar in Ontario, which was just a gangly teen of 1100 years old when Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Other trees around the world are estimated to be over 3000 years old, with a yew in a Welsh churchyard that might come close to 5000 years old.

Limber pine

None of those ancients come close to the ages of some cloned trees. Clones are genetically identical to the parent tree. Rather than germinating from a seed, they grow from the parent tree’s root system. Genetically identical Huon pines in Australia are estimated to be 3000 years old. Norway spruces in Sweden, which normally live to be about 600, are growing from live roots that are estimated at 9000 years old.

The king of ancient trees is the Pando in Utah. The Pando is a grove of quaking aspens with about 47,000 trees growing from a single root system. The individual trunk parts of the aspens average 130 years old, but the entire system is estimated to be anywhere from 80,000 to a million years old. The heaviest known organism in the world, the Pando recently made headlines because it is dying. Like so much else in the world, the cause of death is human activity.

The Pando (Smithsonian)

This week's information comes from Wikipedia, of all places. Not to be trusted as a reliable source, it's a great place to find lists.

Keystone Species

Ever come home at the end of a long week at work, wondering how the place could function without you? It might feel like you’re the only one holding it all together, like a keystone. This week we’ll take a look at the keystone that holds an ecosystem together- keystone species. Without the keystone species, the ecosystem would collapse, or at least be severely altered.

Examples of keystone species are the gray wolf, limber pine, and sea otters. We’ll take a quick return trip to the lava fields of Idaho, then the kelp forests of the Pacific coast to see how limber pines and sea otters are the keystones of their neighborhoods. We learned about the gray wolf and the good work they do at Yellowstone back in September here.

The limber pine is one of the few trees I saw growing at Idaho’s Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. Back in September I spotlighted Craters of the Moon in “Volcanic Idaho”. In that blog post, I mentioned the diverse ecosystem found there. Much of it centers around the limber pine. Limber pine is a pioneer, one of the first to colonize an area following a disturbance, such as a volcanic eruption in Idaho. Its seeds, needles, and sap feed a multitude of mammals, insects, and birds. Without the limber pine, those critters would have to live elsewhere in Idaho, maybe even Utah or Wyoming.

Limber pine at Craters of the Moon

Off the Pacific coast, one of the most important marine habitats is the kelp forest. The kelp hosts many species of fish, somewhat resembling a coral reef (sans coral, of course). The kelp also absorbs storm surge and carbon dioxide. However, kelp tastes delicious, at least according to sea urchins. Lucky for the kelp, sea otters think sea urchins are delicious. Without the otters keeping the urchins in check, the kelp forest becomes an undersea clear cut. Local biodiversity plummets.

River otters (Marine Mammal Commission)

Kelp forest with and without sea otters (Sea Otters.com)

This week's information comes from Great Ecology's blog on limber pines and Sea Otters.com