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Post by hikerjer on Apr 22, 2016 17:39:15 GMT -8
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reuben
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Post by reuben on Apr 22, 2016 17:45:18 GMT -8
I don't care if it's the oldest tree or not. But I would love to leave it alone, keep it a secret, even from myself. Just because.
I mean, give a damn tree a break, will ya?
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Post by hikerjer on Apr 22, 2016 18:09:22 GMT -8
Hey, calm down. I'm in the tree's corner. I wouldn't want to know where it was either if for no other reason to protect it from guys like me.
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reuben
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Post by reuben on Apr 22, 2016 18:22:16 GMT -8
I'm in the tree's corner. I know you are. I'm just agreeing with you after a few beers, so perhaps a bit more vociferously than normal. Someone opened the backpacker bar and then left the door open to any sort of riff raff which may stumble in. Enter moi. |
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Post by hikerjer on Apr 22, 2016 18:47:11 GMT -8
OK. Have another on me. Just don't drive.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2016 18:57:38 GMT -8
Yeah, I don't remember that tree. It was a couple years before my time. We're better off not knowing, anyhow.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Apr 22, 2016 19:32:07 GMT -8
I'm just happy to know that there are such ancient organisms hanging around out there somewhere. And probably laughing at us self-important humans.
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Post by Lonewolf on Apr 23, 2016 3:53:44 GMT -8
I heard about this when I was a kid. Without even clicking the link I know it's a bristlecone pine somewhere in the Sierra of CA.
Keep its location a secret but you do realize that it's hardly untouched even by researchers. They had to get a core to get the age.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Apr 23, 2016 8:40:51 GMT -8
you do realize that it's hardly untouched even by researchers. They had to get a core to get the age. Yeah, we know that. But I also know that if it were generally publicized, people would whittle away little bits as souvenirs until it was killed (and I'm happy we've made enough progress that the scientists no longer kill a specimen to discover if it is the oldest, or the last, or whatever). |
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Apr 23, 2016 13:37:04 GMT -8
We're captivated by the photogenic. Turns out there are root systems that are close to ten thousand years old, Aspen does this as does a species of fir found in Norway where they've dated one to 9,500 years. When the organism needs a new photo synthetic above ground limb it grows one. But being in the dirt; no Kodak moment for them. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2545389/Worlds-oldest-tree-sprouted-ground-soon-ice-age-9-500-years-ago-doesnt-look-changed-since.htmlCreosote bushes in the desert form a simililar system but I can't remember how old they get. Whoa! 80,000 years old!!!! Pando an aspen in Utah. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pando_(tree)Makes the Lucerne Valley's 'King Clone' seem positively childish..,  "In a few areas of the Mojave Desert clonal creosote rings have been found that are several yards in diameter. Near Lucerne Valley, “King Clone” has an average diameter of 45 feet! Using radiocarbon dating and known growth rates of creosote, scientists have estimated the age of “King Clone” as 11,700 years" www.nps.gov/jotr/learn/nature/creosote.htmBut at the end of the day the whole clone etc. seems a loophole versus a single majestic individual just standing there in the wind through the ages.... |
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reuben
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Post by reuben on Apr 23, 2016 13:48:59 GMT -8
Then there's the largest. I thought it was in the upper midwest US, but I guess not. |
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Post by absarokanaut on Apr 23, 2016 14:06:08 GMT -8
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Post by hikerjer on Apr 23, 2016 16:37:39 GMT -8
I'm not disputing this but it does surprise me. I always thought the largest living thing was a grove of Aspens, all connected, somewhere in Colorado. But who am I to question Scientific America? |
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Post by absarokanaut on Apr 23, 2016 16:51:18 GMT -8
I'd heard the Aspen Grove too Jer.
Mushrooms, Blue Whales, Aspens, they're all magnificent.
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Post by ecocentric on Apr 23, 2016 16:54:06 GMT -8
Our ideas about old, large, and what a single organism is, are still evolving. It's pretty hard to measure things that are mostly underground. I suspect that it is even harder to actually age some things. I was in Lone Pine a month ago, but the road was still closed to the Ancient Forest.
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