1

http://www.ltrr.arizona.edu

The Oldest Living OrganismsLecture Supplement

2

http://scotthaefner.com

Bristlecone Pine Tree

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• Bristlecone pines live in isolated groves, at tree line, in the mountains of California, Nevada, Utah, and other southwestern states.

• They are found on Mt. Baden Powell, just to the south of Angeles Crest Highway near Wrightwood.

• The trees grow slowly due to cold temperatures, dry soil, high winds, and short summers.

• The wood is dense, resinous, and resistant to insects and fungi, enabling the trees to survive for a very long time.

Bristlecone Pines

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• Bristlecone pines can live for several thousand years.• The oldest, the Methuselah tree, is in the White Mountains to the east

of Bishop, California.• A core sample indicates Methuselah started life 4,799 years ago—it is

the oldest known individual living organism.• The U.S. Forest Service will not reveal its exact location to protect the

tree.

Antiquity

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Bristlecone Forest

White Mountains, Californiahttp://www.theskyscrapers.org

The Sierra Nevada can be seen to the west.

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Tree Trunk

http://content.answers.com

As bristlecone pines age, much of the dies.

Narrow bands of living tissue remain to carry nourishment from the roots to the

few remaining branches.

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Clues to the Past

http://upload.wikimedia.org

This bristlecone pine, although long-dead, yields clues to the past, which has enabled biologists to construct a 10,000-year record.

8

Redwood Grove

http

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acad

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Coast redwood trees (Sequoia sempervirens) are the largest single living organisms.

Hyperion, the tallest tree measuring 379.1 feet, was only recently discovered. At least 47 trees are more than 344 feet tall.

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Coast Redwoods

• Coast redwood groves are found in a narrow coastal strip from Big Sur to the Klamath Mountains just north of the California-Oregon border.

• The seasonal rainfall can average 100 inches where coast redwoods grow and thrive.

• The cool coastal air and fog provide moisture at other times of the year.• The largest coast redwoods are found in moist, deep valleys and gullies.

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Coastal Fog

http://upload.wikimedia.org

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Antiquity

• The oldest known coast redwood is about 2,200 years old—many others are older than 600 years.

• Many large redwood trees, and perhaps the tallest of all, have been cut-down for their massive amounts of lumber.

• Many of the old-growth redwoods are now part of the Redwood National Park.

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Avenue of the Giants

Redwood National Parkhttp://www.sunnyfortuna.com

Along old U.S. 101 south of Eureka, California.

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Enormity

Humboldt County, Californiahttp://www.sunnyfortuna.com

A single redwood tree felled by loggers.

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The One-Log House

Several redwood log houses once existed—one makes visits to the Los Angeles County Fair.

Both images from http://www.alamedainfo.com

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World-Famous Tree House

Both images from http://www.alamedainfo.com

Mendocino County, California

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Drive-Through Sequoias

All images from http://www.alamedainfo.com

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Early Logging in a Redwood Forest

http://www.oac.cdlib.org

Clear cutting

http://www.siskiyouhistory.org

To the mill

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Poor Habitat Management

Humboldt County, California http://www.krisweb.com

Clear-cutting damage extends to riparian (river and stream) habitats.

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American (Quaking) Aspen

http://upload.wikimedia.org

An shimmering ocean of Populus tremuloides occurs even in a gentle breeze.

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Aspen Leaf

http://www.bio.brandeis.com

The flattened leaf stems enable the leaves to flutter in the breeze.

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North American Range

http://plantwatch.sunsite.ualberta.ca

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• An aspen grove is a clonal colony—trees grow as shoots from a single root system.

• All of the trees in a colony are genetically identical since they originated from a single ancestor.

• A living chain exists from the oldest to the newest growth, although the oldest trees died a long time ago.

Clonal Colonies

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Aspen Grove

Rocky Mountainshttp://uploadwikipedia.org

The leaves turn red and yellow in the autumn making aspen groves a favorite tourist attraction.

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• The Pando aspen grove in the Wasatch Mountains in Utah could be 80,000 years old, and possibly much older.

• Pando, the largest known living organism, extends over three-and-one-half million square feet.

• Creosote form clonal colonies in the western United States, and they can also be very old.

Antiquity

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Creosote Bush

Tucson, Arizonahttp://allergy.peds.arizona.edu

The clonal nature of creosote can be evident when viewed from a airplane.

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Tree Rings

http://upload.wikimedia.org

Tree rings can tell a story about the past.

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Dendrochronology

• Annual growth rings provide a biological record of a tree’s age.• The rings can also provide historical information about weather and forest

fires in some species.• Tree-ring dating, or dendrochronology, is a scientific method for dating the

age of trees.• Core samples are taken with a hollow drill bit so that the trees do not need

to be cut down.• The inner portion of a growth ring forms in the spring, and the outer portion

in the summer or fall.

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Tree Trunk

http://z.about.com

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Tools

http://www.upload.wikimedia.org

Hollow drill bit, measuring stick, and two core samples are shown.

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Tree Ring Growth

• Growth rings are narrower in dry years than in wet years.• A historical record of the climate can be established for an area or region

by tracing the growth rings.• Douglas fir, found in the Western United States, are often used for dating

purposes since they have good concentric tree ring growth in a large trunk.

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Historical Record of Wildfires

http://www.ltrr.arizona.edu

A record of nine wildfires over the past 300+ years can be seen in the tree trunk.

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Historical Record of Climate Patterns

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov

A 2129-year reconstruction of precipitation (rain and snow) in the mountains of northwest

New Mexico.

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Some animals have lived a long time, although not as long as some trees and other vegetation.

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Harriett

http://www.sunshinecoast.com

http://www.lifestart.com

Once known as Harry until someone finally turned her

over.

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The Oldest Animal?

• Charles Darwin brought a young giant tortoise to England from his visit to the Galapagos Islands in 1835.

• Harriett who, spent her later years in the Australia Zoo in Queensland, died in 2006.

• She was thought to have hatched in 1831, meaning she lived over 175 years.

• A few giant tortoises are thought to have lived longer than Harriett.

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Koi Pond

http://www.huntington.org

Huntington Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California

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Even Older Animals

• A koi fish—known as Hanako—died in 1977, apparently after hatching 226 years before in 1751.

• Coral, which are species of animals, have lived as long as 4,000 years.

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Manx Shearwater

http://www.llynmarinecharters.supanet.com

Pelagic birds can range across entire oceans.

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• The Manx Shearwater migrates each year from its breeding grounds in the British Isles to South America.

• They are efficient fliers since they glide on air currents rather than flap their wings continuously.

• They are only found on land during the breeding season when they dig burrows for their nests.

Migration and Breeding

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• Ornithologists band these seabirds to learn about their migratory patterns and behavior.

• In April 2002, on an island off the north coast of Wales, one Manx Shear-water among several thousand stood out.

• Its leg band had been recorded in 1961 and 1977—the band was installed in 1957 when the bird was about five years old.

• This one bird may have flown five million miles during its lifetime in hunting for food and its annual migrations.

• At age 50, the bird was still breeding when it was rediscovered in 2002.

The Oldest Wild Bird?