The Gran Abuelo tree may be found in Chile's Alerce Costero National Park, the world's oldest tree

According to recent research findings, the oldest tree in the world may have been standing for many decades when the first pebbles were placed at Stonehenge.

A recent computer model predicts that the ancient giant, an alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides) known as the "Gran Abuelo" (or great grandfather in Spanish), towers above a ravine in the Chilean Andes may be approximately 5,400 years old. If the date in question can be verified, the Gran Abuelo would be over 600 years older than the Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) in California, which is now recognized as the world's oldest living tree (opens in new tab). This tree is known by its scientific name, "Methuselah."

However, the actual age of the album is still a matter of debate. This is because determining the age of a tree requires the use of a technique known as dendrochronology, considered the industry standard. However, the data that is used for this technique is currently insufficient. The information that forms the basis of the model has not yet been made available to the public or published in a publication subject to peer review.

According to Jonathan Barichivich, a climate and global ecology expert at the Climate and Environmental Sciences Laboratory in Paris, and the researcher who produced the model, the tree is in danger. It has to be safeguarded regardless of its age.

According to Barichivich, who spoke to Live Science about the subject, "It's actually in horrible health due to tourists," the tree has also been impacted by climate change.

How many years has Gran Abuelo lived?

It was once believed that the Gran Abuelo, a conifer that stands 196 feet (60 meters) above the misty forest floor in Alerce Costero National Park in Chile, was approximately 3,500 years old. Barichivich claimed that researchers had never taken a systematic approach to determine its age.

According to Barichivich, "we wanted to tell the tale of the tree with the sole purpose of valorizing it and protecting it." "We wanted to tell the story of the tree with the only aim to protect it."

Therefore, in the year 2020, Barichivich and his colleague Antonio Lara, a professor of forestry and natural resources at the Austral University of Chile, utilized a method that did not cause any damage to the tree to drill a tiny core from the tree, which resulted in the collection of tree rings spanning 2,465 years. Because the borer could not travel the four meters (13 feet) required to reach the center of the tree's diameter, a significant number of the alder tree's growth rings could not be counted.

The group devised a mathematical model that considered that F. cupressoides grow at varying rates depending on their stage of development, from a sapling to a mature tree. This allowed them to account for the remaining years of growth. The model also accounted for growth rate variations brought about by factors such as competition and shifts in the environment and climate.

According to Barichivich, the group then utilized the model to mimic the tree's growth trajectory ten thousand times. The results of those simulations provided a range of ages that were expected for the Gran Abuelo.

According to Barichivich, the computer model concluded that the tree's age was probably somewhere 5,400 years. According to him, all of the simulated growth trajectories projected the tree was at least 4,100 years old, and the absolute oldest it could be was 6,000 years. The tree had an 80 percent chance of being older than 5,000 years, and there was a chance it was more senior than 5,000 years.

"Even if the tree grew to that size very quickly, it cannot be younger than that," he added."It can't be any younger than that for its size."

Barichivich also mentioned a natural law referred to as the growth-lifespan tradeofftradeoff (opens in a new tab), which is another indicator that the tree is an ancient specimen. This tradeofftradeoff suggests that slow-growing animals tend to live longer because they have more time to reproduce. And the growth rate of large trees is so low that they are even slower than other long-lived species, such as gigantic sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum) or Great Basin bristlecone pines, according to him.

However, according to Science Magazine (link opens in a new tab), using modeling data to estimate the age of a tree is something that tree-dating specialists are hesitant to do.

Ed Cook, a founding director of the Tree Ring Laboratory at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York, told Science Magazine in an email that "the ONLY way to truly determine the age of a tree is by dendrochronologically counting the rings." That method requires "ALL rings to be present or accounted for."

Endangered tree

According to Barichivich, the tree's future is uncertain, even though it has persisted for thousands of years.

According to him, the ancient tree has been surrounded by a small platform walkway crushing its final living roots. Furthermore, the multitude of people visiting the tree annually causes additional damage when they walk on it.

The majestic aleric has also been harmed by climate change and the accompanying drought that has persisted for the past ten years; according to him, a second tree growing from the top of the towering monster is currently passing away.

Barichivich and his coworkers have proposed that a veil of netting three meters (10 feet) high and encircling the Gran Abuelo should be placed there to prevent people from coming too close to the tree to protect it from further damage. According to what he shared with Live Science, they also suggest moving the walkway significantly away from the tree's ancient root system.

Article source : https://www.livescience.com/possible-oldest-tree-found-chile

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