Pando (tree)

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A small part of Pando in autumn 2012

Pando (from Latin pandere "to spread") is a clone colony of the American quivering aspen ( Populus tremuloides ) in the Fishlake National Forest in Utah , USA, which is considered to be the oldest and heaviest known creature on earth. The Populus tremuloides forms as Genet designated colonies whose trunks via rhizomes are interconnected and thus form a single organism. While individual tree trunks die off and new ones are added, the colony as a whole persists.

description

Pando stands above Fish Lake , about 50 km southeast of Richfield , Utah. The whole colony (Genet) covers an area of ​​43.6 hectares. The number of logs is around 47,000 and the total weight is estimated to be around 6,000 tons. Individual trees rarely get older than 100 to 130 years; however, the gene is much older. The age of the Pando root network is estimated to be 80,000 years.

The anthropogenic increase in the mule deer population with no natural predators threatens the health of Pando.

A study published in October 2018, based on comparisons of aerial photographs, comes to the conclusion that Pando has not grown any further for 30–40 years and therefore sees Pando as acutely threatened with death.

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proof

  1. ↑ DeWoody, J .; Rowe, CA; Hipkins, VD; Mock, KE: "Pando" Lives: Molecular Genetic Evidence of a Giant Aspen Clone in Central Utah . In: Western North American Naturalist . 68, No. 4, 2008, pp. 493-497. doi : 10.3398 / 1527-0904-68.4.493 .
  2. ↑ Jerry A. Kemperman; Burton V. Barnes: Clone size in American aspens . In: Canadian Journal of Botany . 54, No. 22, 1976, pp. 2603-2607. doi : 10.1139 / b76-280 .
  3. ↑ Genetic Variation and the Natural History of Quaking Aspen, Jeffry B. Mitton; Michael C. Grant: BioScience , Vol. 46, No. 1. (Jan., 1996), pp. 25-31. JSTOR 1312652
  4. ↑ bbc.co.uk: What's the Oldest Living Thing?
  5. ↑ nps.gov: Quaking Aspen
  6. ↑ pm-magazin.de: What is the oldest and heaviest living being in the world?
  7. ↑ Paul C. Rogers; Darren J. McAvoy: Mule deer impede Pando's recovery: Implications for aspen resilience from a single-genotype forest . In: PLoS one . 13, No. 10, 2018, p. E0203619. doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0203619 .
  8. ^ Yessenia Funes: The Biggest Organism on Earth Is Dying, and It's Our Fault . In: Earther . ( gizmodo.com [accessed April 1, 2018]).

Coordinates: 38 ° 31 '33 "  N , 111 ° 45' 4"  W.