The World's Largest Living Organism


	The World's Largest Living Organism

ericskiff

1-24-2007 2:04 AM

8429 views

tags:

science, plants, amazing, big, huge, weird, interesting

ericskiff says:

Amazing that this entire giant forest is in essence one tree with a massive root system.

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1-24-2007 11:08 PM

mossgirl

wow! this is so cool!!

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/990b19ab-8f1b-4532-8a6b-e3427a7ce4d4/45F2EAD9-2785-4C20-9534-0CDA1F3E3114/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pando_%28tree%29&oldid=102754332" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pando_%28tree%29&oldid=102754332" style="font-size: 11px;">en.wikipedia.org</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pando_%28tree%29&oldid=102754332"><P><B>Pando</B> (or <B>The Trembling Giant</B><SUP class="reference" id="_ref-discovery_0"><A title="" href="#_note-discovery">[1]</A></SUP>) is a <A title="Clonal colony" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clonal_colony">clonal colony</A> of a single male <A title="Populus tremuloides" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populus_tremuloides">Quaking Aspen</A> (<I>Populus tremuloides</I>) tree located in the <A title="United States" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States">U.S. state</A> of <A title="Utah" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah">Utah</A>, all determined to be part of a single living organism by identical genetic markers,<SUP class="reference" id="_ref-0"><A title="" href="#_note-0">[2]</A></SUP> and one massive underground <A title="Root" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root">root system</A>. The plant is estimated to weigh collectively 6,000 <A title="Tonne" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonne">tonnes</A> (six million kilograms),<SUP class="reference" id="_ref-oecd_0"><A title="" href="#_note-oecd">[3]</A></SUP> placing it as the heaviest known organism in existence.<SUP class="reference" id="_ref-multiple1_0"><A title="" href="#_note-multiple1">[4]</A></SUP> The root system of Pando is estimated to be among the <A title="List of long-living organisms" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_long-living_organisms">oldest known living organisms</A> in existence at 80,000 years of age.<SUP class="reference" id="_ref-1"><A title="" href="#_note-1">[5]</A></SUP></P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pando_%28tree%29&oldid=102754332"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/en.wikipedia.org/img/28CD098F-2D4D-457A-9FEA-715245683C9E" alt="An aspen grove at Fishlake National Forest (probably not Pando)" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pando_%28tree%29&oldid=102754332"><P>The clone encompasses 43 hectares (107 acres) and has around 47,000 trunks, which continually die and are renewed by its roots. The trunks are connected together by its root system. The average age of Pando's trunks (or technically, stems) is 130 years, as deciphered by tree rings. <A title="Michael Grant" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Grant">Michael Grant</A> in <I><A title="BioScience" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioScience">BioScience</A></I> said:</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pando_%28tree%29&oldid=102754332"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/en.wikipedia.org/img/AD218553-711A-4C09-A672-7E87D548626A" alt="The trunk or stem of a Quaking Aspen" /></div></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/45F2EAD9-2785-4C20-9534-0CDA1F3E3114/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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