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Humans have the habit of shortening the lifespan of trees. We just like to reduce them, and we do it with surprising efficiency, damaging or exterminating forests that have existed for centuries and some for much longer.
The United States is no exception, but there are still small areas of the country that are pretty much the same as they have always been, and researchers have recently spent time studying the one of those areas in North Carolina. They found several trees that easily exceed 2,000 years old and at least one tree well over 2,600 years old.
The study, published in Communications on Environmental Research, examined a total of 110 trees located on a 16,000-acre lot owned by the North Carolina Nature Conservancy. The trees, which are bald cypresses, are located along the Black River.
The researchers, taking tiny specimens that do not put the trees in danger, knew that many specimens in the area were over 1,000 years old, according to previous research. Nevertheless, scientists were surprised to find several trees over the 2,000 year mark and only one tree, designated BLK227, at least 2,624 years old.
With such big numbers, it's hard to put things in perspective. For a bit of context, consider that BLK227 is more than 200 years old before the reign of Alexander the Great. When the first pilgrims arrived on the shores of the United States, this particular tree was already more than 2,200 years old. Yeah, it's old.
"It's extremely unusual to see an old tree stand along the length of a river like this," said Professor David Stahle, lead author of the study, in a statement. . "Bald cypresses are valuable for wood and have been heavily exploited. Well under 1% of the original virgin cypress forests survived. "
Image Source: David Stahle
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