The future of this tree, which has been able to live for thousands of years, is in jeopardy due to the effects of tourism and climate change.

Two researchers, one from Columbia University in New York and one from Astral University in Chile, developed a computer model to calculate the age of the “Gran Apulo” tree, which is called “grandfather” in Spanish. Discovered in the Alerus Costero National Park in Chile, the result is that it may be the oldest tree in the world, and may have been discovered many centuries ago.

A mature computer model shows that the age of the giant tree “Cran Apollo” growing in a valley in the Chilean Andes is estimated to be about 5,400 years. If this date is confirmed, the tree will be about 600 years older than the Medusa tree in California, USA, and has the current official record of being the oldest tree in the world, the pine tree with “large basins” (pines). Langeva).

How was the age of Gran Apollo calculated?

According to a report published on the website,Direct scienceEd Cook, Institutional Director of the Tree Ring Laboratory at Columbia University’s Lamond-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York, said: “The only way to accurately determine the age of a tree is to calculate the age of the tree.

Gran Apollo – a pine tree 60 meters high from a foggy forest site in Alerஸ்s Costero Park – is about 3,500 years old and its age has not been properly analyzed, but one estimate is completely approximate.

By 2020, Jonathan Perishevich, a meteorologist at the Climate and Environmental Science Laboratory in Paris and a global ecologist, and Antonio Laura, a professor of forestry and natural resources at the Astral University in Chile, will be working on the project. Using a non-destructive technique to carve a small center out of wood, they were able to count it as equivalent to 2,465 year old wooden rings.

However, the excavation did not reach the center of the tree with a diameter of 4 m, i.e. the full number of tree rings could not be obtained.

To calculate the remaining annual growth, Barishevik and Laura’s team developed a mathematical model that takes into account competition between plant species and different growth rates depending on environmental and climatic fluctuations.

Parishevich explained, with the model developed according to the simulation results; The age of the tree is approximately 5400 years. If the number is high it may also be the oldest tree. The tree may be over 5,000 years old, 80% of the time, the sample showed that the minimum expected age is 4,100 years.

A return to the biological law known as the life-development trade, this trade indicates that slow-growing species live longer. Perishevich explained that the “Gran Apollo” grows incredibly slowly compared to other giant trees.

The tree is in danger

Perishevich explained that the future of this tree, which has been alive and well for thousands of years, is in jeopardy due to the effects of tourism and climate change. The Gran Apollo is surrounded by a narrow walkway that crushes its last living roots, and the numerous tourists who visit the tree each year do much damage as they walk.

In addition, climate change and the accompanying 10-year drought have adversely affected the giant tree. Parishevich noted that the second tree that had begun to grow from the top of the “Gran Apollo” was now beginning to die.

To protect Gran Apollo from further damage, Perishevich and his colleagues recommended placing a 3-meter-high barrier around the tree. They also suggested moving the walkway from the old root of the tree.

It should be noted that the basic data of the developed computer model have not yet been made public and have not yet been submitted to any peer-reviewed scientific journal.