What is the largest creature on the planet? One in Africa weighs 10 tons? A 65-ton dinosaur? Or a 190-ton blue whale? All of them are not.
The title of the heaviest creature on the planet turns out to be a tree, Pando, that grows in the US state of Utah. This tree weighs 6,600 tons and is also the oldest living organism on Earth.
Scientists estimate that Pando is 14,000 years old and will probably live for nearly 1 million more years. However, observations in recent years show that this tree is dying, and we humans will be partly responsible for that.
The longest living giant creature on the planet
Since 1939, several times a day, a satellite flying over central southern Utah has pointed its camera down to the ground. It took pictures on the slopes of the Wasatch Mountains in the Fremont River Ranger District.
There was a forest of more than 42 hectares growing up with white-bodied yellow poplars. Scientists estimate there are about 47,000 yellow poplars in this forest. But strangely enough, they were all male poplars.
DNA analysis revealed that the male poplars in Wasatch were genetically identical. That means they are all clones from a single male poplar tree. Without the female poplar, the trees have reproduced asexually to produce identical copies.
And beneath the canopy of that aspen forest, the scientists found a huge set of underground roots that all these male poplars are clinging to. In other words, the whole forest turned out to be just a single yellow poplar.
While each branch that emerges from the ground only lives for more than 100 years, they are constantly being renewed, young trees taking the place of old trees, maintaining life for the entire underground root system.
This yang individual therefore has lived for more than 14,000 years, from the time the first humans arrived in the Americas until now. Because of that special, scientists have given it its own name, Pando, which in Latin means “I spread.”
But Pando is dying
That was confirmed in a 2018 study published in the journal PLOS ONE. Scientists at the University of Utah used 72 years of satellite imagery of Pando plus an underground field survey to warn of shrinking poplar forests.
During that time, people opened a highway through the forest, pulled electricity, built camping areas, opened hiking trails, and service homes. These affect in part the area of Pando is thinning.
But a larger impact we have on the ecosystem in Pando is the fact that humans have removed from the area most wild carnivores, such as wolves and grizzly bears. This activity is to ensure the safety of tourism development in the area.
However, the disappearance of the top carnivores has led to an explosion of herbivorous populations in the Pando forest. The deer and elk then swarmed into the aspen forest, eating the young trees that were sprouting from its roots.
As a result, over the past 30 to 40 years, scientists have noticed that Pando’s ability to replace dead poplar trees has decreased. The forest it created was thus sparser, threatening the regeneration of old dead poplar branches.
Many old Pando poplars themselves are also affected by at least three diseases: bark rot, leaf spot and fungal disease. The lack of genetic diversity affects its viability in part.
Another major threat comes from climate change. Pando may have begun to develop after the last ice age. Living in a high mountain region surrounded by desert, it is probably no stranger to drought and warm temperatures.
However, there is evidence that climate change still threatens the size and lifespan of individual branches in Pando. For example, warmer weather at the start of the year makes it harder for branches to form new leaves. A large lake that supplies water to Pando is also running out.
In recent summers, rising temperatures also threaten the forest with possible fires. Therefore, Pando will certainly have difficulty adapting its 42 hectares to these rapid changes in climate.
What will the forest look like in the next 14,000 years?
Despite all the threats, from epidemics, wildfires, herbivorous outbreaks and the arrival of humans, it is a fact that Pando has lived for tens of thousands of years, it has been and still is. is the largest living being on Earth.
It is hard to believe for some reason that has only been present in a few short decades that this poplar forest can die off completely. Especially when people’s awareness of the need to preserve it has increased more than ever.
Environmental groups and the US forestry agency are working to protect Pando and the ecosystem it nurtures. In 2013 and 2014, they established two fenced-in areas to prevent herbivores from accessing an area of Pando forest. As a result, young poplar branches in this area have resurrected.
At the same time, an attempt to reintroduce predators into unfenced areas has also yielded positive results. This is a testament to the effect of ensuring ecological balance and diversity in an area.
In Pando, we need to protect all the species that live there, from plants to herbivores to carnivores. As long as any imbalance occurs, the survival of all remaining components in the ecosystem will be threatened.
Refer to Theconversation, Forbes
.