She knew mammoths and survived several ice ages! It is abouta forest, nicknamed Pando, which is located in Utah, in the UNITED STATES. According to a study published in the journal Natureit would be the largest living organism in the world, but also one of the oldest. An incredible forest composed of a single root! How is this possible?
47,000 poplars… and just one root!
I’m not Latin, “Pando” means “I extend myself” or “I spread myself” : not surprising when we know that this forest of 47,000 poplars extends over no less than 43 hectaresin Utah. However, talking about forests is inappropriate, because it is in fact aboutone and the same interconnected organism : these 47,000 trees are connected by one and the same root !
According to the journal study Nature, a DNA analysis would have dated the age of Pando, estimating it between 16,000 and 81,000 years old ! It would therefore be both the largest living organism in the world, but also one of the oldest. Pando therefore knew the woolly mammoths and the saber-toothed cats, then the naked monkeys who roamed these American plains.
Scientists are also surprised that this fascinating living being has aroused little interest over all these years. Born from a single, tiny seed, Pando spread slowly but surelyand constitutes in some way a living memory of the climate of this region for several tens of thousands of years.
A triploid living being
Even more astonishing, Pando’s cells contain not two copies of its chromosomes, but three ! We talk about being triploid: concretely, this means that this living being cannot reproduce by mixing its DNA with that of other congeners.
To reproduce, he therefore constantly creates clones of himself, which ultimately reveals genetic mutationsespecially on its leaves. This astonishing evolution is undoubtedly intended to protect its core and its roots, where perhaps lies the secret of its longevity.
What can Pando teach us? Lots of things! It could help to find out more about the deep connections that allow life to survive through the ages. But also how slowness, which is its trademark, allows you to survivethanks to its roots in the subsoil, ice ages, droughts and fires over thousands of years.
Article references:
Pando, a forest made up of a single tree, one of the oldest living beings on Earth – France Info
The world’s oldest tree ? Genetic analysis traces evolution of iconic Pando forest – Nature
