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World's oldest living tree discovered in Sweden(!?!)
www.physorg.com ^ | 04/16/2008 | Source: Swedish Research Council

Posted on 04/16/2008 11:32:32 AM PDT by Red Badger

The world's oldest recorded tree is a 9,550 year old spruce in the Dalarna province of Sweden

The spruce tree has shown to be a tenacious survivor that has endured by growing between erect trees and smaller bushes in pace with the dramatic climate changes over time.

For many years the spruce tree has been regarded as a relative newcomer in the Swedish mountain region.

”Our results have shown the complete opposite, that the spruce is one of the oldest known trees in the mountain range,” says Leif Kullman, Professor of Physical Geography at Umea University.

A fascinating discovery was made under the crown of a spruce in Fulu Mountain in Dalarna. Scientists found four “generations” of spruce remains in the form of cones and wood produced from the highest grounds.

The discovery showed trees of 375, 5,660, 9,000 and 9,550 years old and everything displayed clear signs that they have the same genetic makeup as the trees above them. Since spruce trees can multiply with root penetrating braches, they can produce exact copies, or clones.

The tree now growing above the finding place and the wood pieces dating 9,550 years have the same genetic material. The actual has been tested by carbon-14 dating at a laboratory in Miami, Florida, USA.

Previously, pine trees in North America have been cited as the oldest at 4,000 to 5,000 years old.

In the Swedish mountains, from Lapland in the North to Dalarna in the South, scientists have found a cluster of around 20 spruces that are over 8,000 years old.

Although summers have been colder over the past 10,000 years, these trees have survived harsh weather conditions due to their ability to push out another trunk as the other one died.

”The average increase in temperature during the summers over the past hundred years has risen one degree in the mountain areas,” explains Leif Kullman.

Therefore, we can now see that these spruces have begun to straighten themselves out. There is also evidence that spruces are the species that can best give us insight about climate change.

The ability of spruces to survive harsh conditions also presents other questions for researchers.

Have the spruces actually migrated here during the Ice Age as seeds from the east 1,000 kilometres over the inland ice that that then covered Scandinavia? Do they really originate from the east, as taught in schools? “My research indicates that spruces have spent winters in places west or southwest of Norway where the climate was not as harsh in order to later quickly spread northerly along the ice-free coastal strip,” says Leif Kullman.

“In some way they have also successfully found their way to the Swedish mountains.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
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That's older than HT.......Please, no pics!..............
1 posted on 04/16/2008 11:32:33 AM PDT by Red Badger
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To: blam

Timber!...................................


2 posted on 04/16/2008 11:32:52 AM PDT by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: Red Badger

Was it called The Al Gore?


3 posted on 04/16/2008 11:34:14 AM PDT by Merta (They Call Me The Ranting Man)
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To: Red Badger

That’s one really solid wood!


4 posted on 04/16/2008 11:34:31 AM PDT by SolidWood
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To: Red Badger
Have the spruces actually migrated here during the Ice Age as seeds from the east 1,000 kilometres over the inland ice that that then covered Scandinavia?

You mean it survived GLOBAL WARMING?

5 posted on 04/16/2008 11:35:17 AM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: Red Badger
I'm guessing this is entirely credible since the Swedish long ago discovered how to make furniture without the need for real wood.


6 posted on 04/16/2008 11:37:06 AM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: Red Badger

“World’s oldest living tree discovered in Sweden”

“... Upon being informed that it was living in Sweden, the tree immediately applied for monthly state welfare payments and a free apartment.”


7 posted on 04/16/2008 11:37:32 AM PDT by PetroniusMaximus
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To: Red Badger

How on earth could a tree be older than the earth itself?


8 posted on 04/16/2008 11:38:20 AM PDT by trumandogz ("He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and it worries me." Sen Cochran on McCain)
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To: trumandogz

LOL!!!....You dog, you!.....


9 posted on 04/16/2008 11:39:09 AM PDT by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: Red Badger

LOL!


10 posted on 04/16/2008 11:39:42 AM PDT by American Quilter (The urge to save humanity is nearly always a cover for the urge to rule. - H. L. Mencken)
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To: Red Badger

It’s a shame they had ot cut it down to count its rings! :-)


11 posted on 04/16/2008 11:41:55 AM PDT by TRY ONE (NUKE the unborn gay whales!)
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To: Red Badger
>World's oldest living tree discovered in Sweden

The Bikini Team
is from there because they have
so much good old wood . . .

12 posted on 04/16/2008 11:42:34 AM PDT by theFIRMbss
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To: Red Badger

“The spruce tree has shown to be a tenacious survivor that has endured by growing between erect trees and smaller bushes in pace with the dramatic climate changes over time.”

That’s a lie. Everyone knows that the climate just started changing in 2001, right after Bush was sworn in.


13 posted on 04/16/2008 11:42:50 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: TRY ONE

They did DNA sample comparisons and carbon-14 dating..................


14 posted on 04/16/2008 11:43:02 AM PDT by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: Red Badger
"Timber!..................................."

World's Oldest, 8,000 Year Old (Living) Tree Found In Sweden

15 posted on 04/16/2008 11:43:04 AM PDT by blam (Secure the border and enforce the law)
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To: Red Badger

If Albore wouldn’t stand so still they wouldn’t be taking core samples.


16 posted on 04/16/2008 11:44:29 AM PDT by CodeToad
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To: trumandogz

Yggdrasil.

“In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is the giant Ash Tree that holds together the Nine Worlds, also called the World Ash or World Tree, or Irminsul, Pillar of the World.

It encompasses the Nine Worlds, and is guarded by the serpent Jormungandr. Yggdrasil is one of many variations of the Cosmic Axis or Universal World Tree known to all human cultures.

Yggdrasil is home to many creatures, most notably the serpent or Dragon Nidhogg, lurks in the base, The Eagle , who lives at the tree’s peak, and the squirrel, Ratatosk, who carries messges between them. These animals can be viewed as metaphors for the human body.

According to Norse legend, Yggdrasil is where the god Odin hung upside-down for nine nights in order to obtain the magical Rune Alphabet.

According to Norse legend, Yggdrasil is where the god Odin hung upside-down for nine nights in order to obtain the Rune Alphabet. Beneath the roots of the World Ash lies the spring, Mimir, to which Odin sacrificed an eye to gain wisdom.”


17 posted on 04/16/2008 11:47:38 AM PDT by claudiustg (You know it and I know it.)
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To: Merta

Yet another wooden oracle of global warming.


18 posted on 04/16/2008 11:48:28 AM PDT by DannyTN
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To: Red Badger
They forgot the obligatory scare:
"But now, the tree's continued existence is in danger, due to manmade global warming and rising sea levels"

/sarc

19 posted on 04/16/2008 11:49:51 AM PDT by NewJerseyJoe (Rat mantra: "Facts are meaningless! You can use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!")
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To: Red Badger

“My research indicates that spruces have spent winters in places west or southwest of Norway”

You would think that the remarkable part of the story is that the spuces tend to migrate to Norway in the winter !?!


20 posted on 04/16/2008 11:50:44 AM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel
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