30 trees over 2.000 years old have been found on Earth - How old are the oldest?

Chinese scientists have announced that 30 trees more than two millennia old have been found on our planet, almost all of them - 27 - at high altitudes and away from human eyes (and saws), usually on rocky slopes high, cold and dry mountains. In contrast, taller trees are located in places more accessible to humans.

The oldest known trees are two species of pine (Pinus longaeva) aged 4.900 and 4.850 years, respectively, which are found in the southwestern United States at an altitude of 3.277 meters one and 2.950 the second. They are followed by a 3.622-year-old cypress (Fitzroya cupressoides) on the western slopes of the Chilean Andes at an altitude of 890 meters and a giant 3.266-year-old sequoia in the Sierra Nevada.

The researchers, led by Dr. Jiagia Liu of the Institute for Biodiversity Science at Fudan University in Shanghai, who published the paper in the journal Conservation Biology, according to Nature, analyzed data on nearly 200.000 trees and noted that There are only 620 "thousand" trees. Most of the trees that are over 1.000 years old are bare seeds, ie plants such as conifers that produce pine cones and seeds instead of flowers.

The study estimates that of the known trees over 500 years old, which are 8.072, about 70%, or seven out of ten, are threatened by human overexploitation of natural resources, as well as rising temperatures due to climate change. That's why researchers emphasize the need to protect deciduous trees with new policies.

Source: RES