Prometheus (tree)
Prometheus (also WPN -114 ) is the name of one of the oldest known trees with almost 5000 years. This is a Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva ), which grew at the tree line on Wheeler Peak in the U.S. state of Nevada. The age of the tree was not detected until after he had been felled by a 1964 working for the U.S. Forest Service students.
About the tree
Prometheus was one of many long-lived pine trees on the lateral moraine of a former glacier on Wheeler Peak. The 3982 m high mountain is today the center of the founded in 1986, Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada. Prometheus grew up near the tree line in a remote part of the territory. His name was Prometheus by journalist David Lambert 1957-1961. Schulman Edward had recognized in other locations that these pines are probably the oldest living thing and had already found 4000 year old specimens, including the so- named by the Methuselah (English for Methuselah ) in the White Mountains.
Prometheus grew to around 3200 m above sea level. The tree was about 5.1 m high, the living part of around 3.3 m. The trunk circumference at 45 cm height was 6.4 m. 92 % in girth had no bark, this was only obtained in a 50 cm wide strip on the north side. The south, uphill facing side was partially eroded away up over the center inside.
Donald Rusk Currey felled the tree on 7 August 1964, under a work in which he put among other things, a dendrochronology of the area. He determined for the tree mentioned by him WPN - 114, a growth ring number and thus minimum age of 4844 years. He closed provisionally to an age of about 4900 years. A few years later corrected Donald Graybill from the University of Arizona, the assumable age of 4862 years. However, the annual rings were counted just under two meters above the ground, as the inner rings were further no longer be seen below. He was henceforth regarded as the oldest and by 2012 not clonally growing organism and exceeded with this property the only two or three centuries younger Methuselah.
2012, a drill core sample was first evaluated, the Edward Schulman had taken back in the late 1950s in California's White Mountains. The tree from which the sample is known and survived, dating yielded an age of 5062 years, converted to the year 2012.
Further research
Donald R. Currey was a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and studied the climatic changes during the Little Ice Age using dendrochronology. In 1963, he became aware of the populations of long-lived pines in the Snake Range in what is now Great Basin National Park. Size, shape and speed of growth of some trees were Currey estimate their age to over 3000 years. He took to samples from the interior of the tribes. The student but he failed to investigate successfully the WPN -114 in this way. Why, exactly, is not known. About the reason why the tree Currey finally precipitated, there are various theories. It is believed among other things that the drill required for the taking of samples damaged and was no longer usable. Others believe a collection of samples was considered from the beginning as far less insightful and sure to be an accurate section.
The to-valley brought by Currey parts of the tree are now preserved in a number of research institutions, such as the Convention Center in Ely ( Nevada), in the Laboratory of Tree -Ring Research ( Laboratium for the study of tree rings ) of the University of Arizona in Tucson and in the Institute of Forest Genetics ( Institute of Forest Genetics ) of the U.S. Forest Service in Placerville ( California). A portion is also in the visitor center of the Great Basin National Park in Baker ( Nevada).
Based on the research was created using the bristlecone pines chronology most reliable dendrochronological time series, which also serves as a calibration standard for radiocarbon dating.
Effects
It is believed that the cases of Prometheus promoted the conservation efforts to the long-lived pines. Even before the incident, it has been advocated by some to establish the Wheeler Peak around a national park. 22 years after the first exam Prometheus the Great Basin National Park was finally established.
The exact position of Methuselah and the 2012 currently discovered the oldest known living tree is kept secret from the relevant U.S. Forest Service. Given the importance of long-lived trees for dendrochronology type and all copies are now under protection.