HUMANS are already thought to be largely responsible for the almost complete extinction of massive mammals, simply because we can’t stop killing the big ones. Now, a new study claims that mankind is also responsible for the slow decline of the world’s largest living organism that’s still here, a massive aspen tree network located in Utah, the United States, called Pando, Latin for “I spread.” Pando is an incredibly special organism, but you’d never know it by looking. The tens of thousands of tree clones that make up Pando are all linked by their roots, and it has persisted for an estimated 80,000 years. It’s seen the best and worst that planet Earth has to offer, but humans have found a way to slowly kill it off without even realizing it. You might assume that climate change is responsible for Pando’s decline but that’s not the full story. Yes, if we don’t get global warming under control it’s going to be very hard for all kinds of plants and animals to sustain themselves, but Pando’s more immediate threat comes from mule deer. Mule deer love to feast on the tiny saplings that routinely sprout in Pando’s forest. Those young trees pop up and replace the aging plants, completing the cycle that has sustained the tree network for tens of thousands of years, but the deer are posing a serious problem. Humans have impacted the natural balance of the region by killing off many of the predators that hunt mule deer. With far fewer wolves and big cats to thin the herd, mule deer populations have exploded and all those stomachs need to be filled. The deer have turned Pando into their personal buffet, and the trees simply haven’t had an opportunity to keep up. As new trees sprout they are quickly munched on, and the older aspen clones continue to die off without young plants to take their place. “There should be no confusion over the point that both domestic and wild herbivore populations are governed by people’s preferences and actions, and that those decisions result in long-term consequences for ecosystems writ large,” the researchers write. Going forward, finding a way to control the mule deer population, either by preserving natural predators or some other means, will be vital to ensuring the world’s largest organism remain. (SD-Agencies) THE largest organism in the world has survived relatively unnoticed within the Fishlake National Forest in Utah. Now, researchers are concerned that this organism, 1,000 years old, is dying. The organism is named Pando, Latin for “I spread,” and is a massive grove of quaking aspens. They are known for their bright yellow color in the fall and make a quaking sound as wind passes through their leaves. Aspens have the unique ability to produce genetically identical offspring through offshoots from their root system. Through their ability to multiply asexually through their root system, Aspens tend to colonize large swaths of land through a shared root system. That is exactly what happened in Richfield, Utah, where a grove of 47,000 aspens all originate from a single male parent aspen, sharing an identical genetic makeup. The single male aspen genetically cloned itself and has been doing so for thousands of years. In total, the grove of aspens cover 106 acres. It’s not clear why and how this specific grove of aspens grew to be so large. The grove could have outcompeted other trees in the area, with the ability to rapidly reproduce and grow. A recent study conducted by researchers at Utah State University and published in PLOS ONE found that Pando has been diminishing for decades in size and its ability to replace dying aspens. The team conducted ground surveys through the aspen grove and studied 72 years of aerial photography to develop a time-lapse story of how Pando has changed. The research team found that a combination of hungry grazing animals and human encroachment has caused the dwindling of Pando. Mule deer and cattle, which are allowed to graze in the forest during summer months, feed on new shoots and leaves and have likely limited new aspen growth. The team specifically found that the grove of aspens hasn’t been able to effectively replace its aging and dying trees. The grove of 47,000 trees has remained for thousands of years partially because the single organism has been able to supply trees at every stage of an aspen’s life, helping it to be resistant to external threats. However, grazing animals have threatened Pando’s ability to produce young offspring to replace dying trees. Another threat is human development in the area, with the combination of campgrounds, power lines, hiking trails, cabins, etc. These two major threats have caused Pando to steadily shrink in size and thin out over the past 50 years. |