This is a list of the oldest known trees, as reported in reliable sources. Definitions of what constitutes an individual tree vary. In addition, tree ages are derived from a variety of sources, including documented "tree-ring" count core samples, and from estimates. For these reasons, this article presents three lists of "oldest trees," each using varying criteria.
References
There are three tables of trees, which are listed by age and species. The first table includes trees for which a minimum age has been directly determined, either through counting or cross-referencing tree rings or through radiocarbon dating. Many of these trees may be even older than their listed ages, but the oldest wood in the tree has rotted away. For some old trees, so much of the centre is missing that their age cannot be directly determined. Instead, estimates are made based on the tree's size and presumed growth rate. The second table includes trees with these estimated ages. The last table lists clonal colonies in which no individual tree trunks may be remarkably old but in which the organism as a whole is thought to be very old.
The current record-holders for individual, non-clonal trees are the Great Basin bristlecone pine trees from California and Nevada, in the United States. Through tree-ring cross-referencing, they have been shown to be more than five millennia old.
A clonal colony can survive for much longer than an individual tree. A colony of 47,000 quaking aspen trees (nicknamed "Pando"), covering 106 acres (43 ha) in the Fishlake National Forest of Utah, is considered one of the oldest and largest organisms in the world. The colony has been estimated to be 80,000 years old, although tree ring samples date individual, above-ground, trees at only an average of about 130 years. A colony of Huon pine trees covering 2.5 acres (1.0 ha) on Mount Read, Tasmania is estimated to be around 10,000 years old, as determined by DNA samples taken from pollen collected from the sediment of a nearby lake. Individual trees in this group date to no more than 4,000 years old, as determined by tree ring samples.
Clonal trees
As with all long-lived plant and fungal species, no individual part of a clonal colony (is alive in the sense of active metabolism) for more than a very small fraction of the life of the entire clone. Some clonal colonies may be fully connected via their root systems, while most are not actually interconnected, but are genetically identical clones which populated an area through vegetative reproduction. Ages for clonal colonies, often based on current growth rates, are estimates.
Notes- ^ It is uncertain when Methuselah's age was determined, but "it seems likely the tree had 4,789 rings (crossdated) in the summer of 1957". The age given here is based on this reference point.
- ^ Grant, Michael C. (1 October 1993). "The Trembling Giant" . Discover Magazine. Retrieved 8 May 2008.
- ^ "Botanical Record-Breakers". W.P Armstrong. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
- ^ "Quaking Aspen", National Park Service- Bryce Canyon. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
- ^ "SPECIES: Populus tremuloides". USDA - United States Forest Service. Retrieved 8 May 2008.
- ^ a b "Native Conifers of Tasmania". Paks and Wildlife Service, Tasmania. Retrieved 6 May 2008.
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- ^ "Pinus longaeva". Gymnosperm Database. March 15, 2007. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
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- ^ "Parque Nacional Alerce Costero". Conaf.cl (in Spanish). National Forest Corporation. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
- ^ Brunstein, F. Craig; Yamaguchi, David K. (Aug 1992). "The Oldest Known Rocky Mountain Bristlecone Pines (Pinus aristata Engelm.)". Arctic and Alpine Research 24 (3): 253–256. doi:10.2307/1551666, JSTOR 1551666.
- ^ Worrall, John (1990). "Subalpine Larch: Oldest Trees in Canada?". The Forestry Chronicle 66: 478–479. doi:10.5558/tfc66478-5.
- ^ Miles, D.H.; Worthington, M.J. (17–21 June 1998). "Sonora Pass junipers from California USA: construction of a 3,500-year chronology". In Stravinskiene, V.; Juknys, R. Dendrochronology and Environmental Trends - Proceedings of the International Conference. Kaunas, Lithuania: Vytautas Magnas University Department of Environmental Sciences.
- ^ Suzuki, Eizi; Tsukahara, Jun (1987). "Age structure and regeneration of old growth Cryptomeria japonica forests on Yakushima Island". J. of Plant Research 100 (3): 223–241. doi:10.1007/BF02492832.
- ^ Schulman, E. (1956). Dendroclimatic Changes in Semiarid America. Tucson: Univ. of Ariz. Press.
- ^ Larson, D. W.; Kelly, P. E. (1991). "The extent of old-growth Thuja occidentalis on cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment". Canadian Journal of Botany 69 (7): 1628–1636. doi:10.1139/b91-206.
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