Copyright © 2020 Pando Populus™.Artwork copyright © 2015 Tucker Nichols. Old Tjikko is a 9,550 year-old Norway spruce, located on Fulufjället Mountain of Dalarna province in Sweden.Old Tjikko originally gained fame as the "world's oldest tree." How does anyone know any of this? This is a clonal colony of Quaking Aspen trees in Utah, with a conservative age estimate of about 80,000 years. This is an apt name for the world’s most famous Quaking Aspen tree that is over a million years old and which, through its shoots, covers an area of around 106 acres at an elevation of 8,848 feet in the Fishlake National Forest’s River Ranger District in Utah, United States. For example, scientists estimate that the giant quaking aspen tree colony in Utah known as “Pando” is more than 80,000 years old. Pando is a licensed Ogden tree care company offering tree health services in Ogden, Utah. No matter how you slice it, this is an impressive figure, and while it’s abnormally high for a bristlecone there are plenty around only a couple millennia younger. Changes in ungulate herbivore management over recent decades provides the most plausible explanation, though exacerbating agents, such as increased human presence and warming/drying climatic conditions likely play a role. But each tree shares a common root system and is a genetically identical clone of its forest pals. Since its difficult to determine a tree’s exact age based on its roots instead of tree rings, some scientists think that Pando’s age might actually be … Collectively, both direct and indirect human impacts are negatively influencing Pando. Pando is now under threat — from cattle grazing, an exploding deer and elk population (due to the elimination of predators), misplaced development, and the impending prospect of radical climate change. Our service range extends along the Wasatch Front including Park City, Sandy, West Jordan, Draper, Salt Lake City, Bountiful, Farmington, Layton, Clearfield, Roy, South Ogden, Ogden, North Ogden, Bringham City, and everything inbetween. It is located in Utah, United States. They’d literally miss the forest for the trees. The largest organism on Earth, and one of the very oldest, is a quaking aspen that extends over 100 acres from a single root. Reach us offline. This is because Pando is a tree colony. As it turns out, quaking aspen have an extremely hard time reproducing through non-clonal in the American West, where the climate turned unfavorable several thousands years ago. Counting the rings of a single trunk will only account for up to 200 years or so, as Pando is in a constant cycle of growth, death, and renewal. Unlike the bristlecones, which can be dated accurately through tree rings, it’s pretty hard to get a fix on Pando’s exact age. … Perhaps DNA sequence data from various parts of the clone could be used to estimate age from the accumulation of mutations. These things are difficult to determine; it’s definitely one of both. Tree - Tree - Tree structure and growth: In the section Ecological and evolutionary classification, it is pointed out that land plants are descended from aquatic plants. The Flood . It is the tree known as aspen, which is very common in North America. Old Tijkko is an impressive 9,550 years old! Tree experts also note that the organism's age cannot be determined with the level of precision found in tree rings; some claim Pando's age is closer to 1 million years. In some ways Pando is the best witness of an ancient earth of the three because of the multiple independent lines of evidence of great age. credit: scottks1 The oldest living organism in the world is 80,000 years old, and clones itself. In the case of the pando, luck seems to have smiled on its root system: it is estimated to be around 80,000 years old. In 2019, Rodgers and Šebesta produced this uneasy paragraph: While it is clear the base cause of the current trajectory is not mature tree mortality, but chronic browsing of regenerating aspen suckers, we are left wondering how this iconic organism survived and thrived likely for millennia—the exact age is unknown—while it appears to be dwindling suddenly during our time. We can fence off regions to prevent overgrazing of young stems, that sort of thing. Pando is a single tree, albeit a tree that is a forest of growing international reputation. In terms of other superlatives, the more optimistic estimates of Pando’s age have it as over one million years old, which would easily make it one of the world’s oldest living organisms. It has a name, Pando. For context, humans were only just beginning to move into Asia 80,000 years ago, and only reached the Americas – where Pando lives – 15,000 years ago. Because we live on the macro scale, we’re used to thinking of living being as discrete entities. This has the ability to multiply asexually, that is, in ways that seeds are not necessary, but can be either by producing root sprouts, or by cuttings. Pando. But underground the trees are connected by a single and vast root system. How can they begin to guess at Pando’s biology? These ‘ramets’ function, for all intents and purposes, as baby trees, living and dying just like you’d expect any stand-alone aspen to. Pando’s now clocking in at a mere 15,000 or so. There’s something profound in that emergent reality. Pando was discovered by Burton V. Barnes of the University of Michigan in the 1970s. Since the 80s, Pando seems to be struggling, unable to bring its ramets to maturity fast enough to replace falling stems. This makes it much older than any other tree, and by most accounts it’s the oldest living thing on the planet. And the winner is Pando. Experts have estimated the age of the Pando to be around 80,000 years making the Pando one of … Pando is estimated to be not 10, not 30, not 50, but 80,000 years old! As far as I could find out, that last study has not actually been executed, but given the conditions in which Pando lives it’s very, very clear that it’s an extraordinarily ancient organism. But, as we encountered with our exploding ants, that’s not always the most sensible way of understanding the natural world, which tends to be at least a little indifferent to the entire concept of individualism. Pando featured on season 4 premiere episode of UTopia TV, Earth’s most massive living thing is struggling to survive, Conservation insights from an enormous aspen clone: Q&A with ecologist Paul Rogers, Pando, the Most Massive Organism on Earth, Is Shrinking, Earth’s Most Massive Living Organism Is Dying, Earth’s Heaviest Organism Could Be Eaten to Death…By Deer, Utah’s Pando aspen grove is the most massive living thing known on Earth. Tree experts also note that the organism's age cannot be determined with the level of precision found in tree rings; some claim Pando's age is closer to 1 million years. Instead of fortitude, it invokes dynamism. UTopia TV, April 2019 | Pando featured on season 4 premiere episode of UTopia TV, PBS News Hour, February 2019 | “Earth’s most massive living thing is struggling to survive”, Mongabay, June 2020 | “Conservation insights from an enormous aspen clone: Q&A with ecologist Paul Rogers”, New York Times, October 2018 | “Pando, the Most Massive Organism on Earth, Is Shrinking”, Topos Magazine, June-July 2018 | “Living With a Giant” blog seriesPart I, Part II, Part III, Part IIII, US News & World Report, June 2018 | “Earth’s Most Massive Living Organism Is Dying”, Live Science, December 2017 | “The World’s Largest Organism Is Dying”, Earther, November 2017 | “Earth’s Heaviest Organism Could Be Eaten to Death…By Deer”, Salt Lake Tribune, November 2017 | “Utah’s Pando aspen grove is the most massive living thing known on Earth. This is because Pando is a tree colony. This makes it much older than any other tree, and by most accounts it’s the oldest living thing on the planet. Pando. Scientists disagree about Pando’s age, but estimates vary between 12,000 and 80,000 years old, a … As with Jurupa, Pando is a clonal colony. The oldest known living specimen, ‘Methuselah,’ has been verified at a staggering 4,852 years old. Paul Rodgers talks about the world’s largest living being an Aspen colony in Central Utah. With an estimated age of over 80,000 years, Pando is the oldest tree in the world as well as one of the oldest living organisms. In Latin, the word Pando means ‘I spread out’. To the casual observer, Pando looks like an ordinary forest. 3 There may be still older colonies of Quaking Aspen that have yet to be discovered. In the case of the pando, luck seems to have smiled on its root system: it is estimated to be around 80,000 years old. Its cloned shoots, all from a single male parent aspen, form an ancient stand that is world famous for its size, weight, and age. Even though the entire grove is a single organism, the death and re-growth of the different parts of the trees are independent. This age designation is based on a complex set of factors. photo source: Flickr Public Domain It is estimated that there are over 40,000 individual trees in the Pando system and some of these trees are over 130 years old. Even the oldest non-clonal trees in the world, at some 4000+ years of age, don't approach the age of the root system of this organism, known as Pando, or … It may die soon, Saving Pando: Humans are taking measured steps to rejuvenate an ailing giant, Partnering to preserve and restore healthy aspen ecosystems, Devastated: The World’s Largest Known Organism Is In Utah – And It’s Dying, Important information about Utah’s aspen forests, from the State of Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. Age: Around 80 thousand years Species: Shaky Poplar Location: National Forest, Fish Lake, Utah, United States Is it still alive: Yes With an age of about 80 thousand years, the world’s oldest tree and one of the oldest living organisms in the world is considered. The individual trunks of Pando average a respectable 130 years, but they regularly die and are replaced by a new, identical clone. Pando—Latin meaning I spread—is actually a single tree, a “forest of one” that sprouts over 40,000 stems through an expansive root system. Individual aspen stems typically do not live beyond 100–130 years and mature areas within Pando are approaching this limit. In addition to its age, Pando is also known for its weight. Spanning 107 acres and weighing 6,615 tons, Pando was once thought to be the world’s largest organism (now usurped by thousand-acre fungal mats in Oregon), and is almost certainly the most massive. Pando is the name of the many-trunked tree system that inspired all this. credit: scottks1 The oldest living organism in the world is 80,000 years old, and clones itself. Darwinian evolution is 160 years old, and the structure of DNA was only determined in the early 1950s. Did You Know? We live in the first age that is able to grope its way back towards the true mysteries of biology. Others estimates puts Pando's age closer to 1 million years. While Pando is still alive for now, scientists have noticed that Pando is showing signs of decline, primarily caused by human activities. It cares about individual stems just about as much the average person might fuss about individual hairs on their head. In 1992 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development called Pando the world's most massive organism. Pando is far and away the oldest tree in the world with an estimated age of 80,000 years. Scientists disagree about Pando’s age, … Clonal age, in the strictest sense, truly applies only to the individual genome, which is the single element of clone identity that would be continous across such time spans. Known as Pando, and nicknamed The Trembling Giant, this … On average, each individual tree lives 130 years, before falling and being replaced by new ones. The largest organism on Earth, and one of the very oldest, is a quaking aspen that extends over 100 acres from a single root. While Methuselah is widely considered to be the oldest tree in the world, some question the claim. The existence of Pando, like Methuselah or the Norway Spruce group, is a simply and intuitive evidence that the world is older than proposed by YEC apologists. Unlike the bristlecones, which can be dated accurately through tree rings, it’s pretty hard to get a fix on Pando’s exact age. It is one tree. Unlike the bristlecones, which can be dated accurately through tree rings, it’s pretty hard to get a fix on Pando’s exact age. Quaking Aspens Populus tremuloides, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Salt Lake County, Utah. For most of Pando’s thousands of years existence, humans wouldn’t even have been able to recognize it. Back when Old Tjikko was Young Tjikko it may have seen Wooly Mammoths roaming around and the last glaciers of the ice age receding. Finally, consider the case of Pando. The early aquatic plants required few modifications for structural support or water and nutrient absorption, since the surrounding water fulfilled their needs. This is because Pando is a tree colony. In addition to its age, Pando is also known for its weight. It is one tree. We also live in an age that seems preternaturally gifted at disrupting that biology, and in a civilization that only barely cares about the consequences. I know that’s a weird thing to say at Secret Base, where we have enjoyed exploding ants, tongue-chomping parasites and trees that kill birds for the lols. Hell, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek’s discovery of microscopic life was less than four centuries ago. And it’s not just ancient — while bristlecone pines are studies in endurance in the face of deep time, Pando’s a very different story. Quaking aspens have the curious property of being able to reproduce themselves clonally, sending up new seedlings from their roots. They harbor vast amounts of biodiversity. 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Pando is estimated to be not 10, not 30, not 50, but 80,000 years old! Pando is the name of the many-trunked tree system that inspired all this. More about Pando Pando was given its name by the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor botanist Burton Barnes. The individual trunks of Pando average a respectable 130 years, but they regularly die and are replaced by a new, identical clone. Pando is a clonal colony of quaking aspen that has been growing in southern Utah so long that it makes Old Tjikko look like a spring chicken. Stay up to date on all things Pando by subscribing to ROOTBALL. "What you all think of as trees are actually one living and connected being," Rogers told Live Science. This is largely because, when determining a tree’s age, cloning is a factor. Its growth and better understand its eco-system Angeles County 's age closer to million. Live on the macro scale, we ’ re called krummholz trees, and they are gorgeous discovered. Be not 10, not 30, not 30, not 50, but years! 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