World’s Oldest Tree: Newcomer to the Record Books
The world’s oldest tree has recently been discovered in Sweden. It is a tenacious spruce with a root system 9,550 years old.
The spruce, named Dalarna (“the dales”), was found on the Fulu Mountain in Sweden. It was dated by carbon dated at a laboratory in Miami, Flordia.
Many other trees in the area are of a comparable age. The scientists, led by Professor Leif Kullman at Umeå University, found another 20 species of spruce that are over 8,000 years old.
Professor Kullman says “Spruces are the species that can best give us insight about climate change,”
According to an article in the Telegraph:
The summers 9,500 years ago were warmer than today, though there has been a rapid recent rise as a result of climate change that means modern climate is rapidly catching up
Also, on how the tree survived so long:
The tree probably survived as a result of several factors: the generally cold and dry climate, few forest fires and relatively few humans.
Obviously, this record supercedes the previous record for the oldest tree that I wrote about earlier this year. At the time, it was understood that the oldest tree on Earth was Methuselah - a 4,769 year old Bristlecone Pine in California, US.
Tags: tree, world records
April 21st, 2008 at 7:58 am
[...] 20 April, 2008: Since posting this article, a new discovery has been made in Sweden. A tenacious spruce tree with a root system 9,550 years [...]