Alerce Milenario
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Alerce Milenario () or Gran Abuelo, also known in English as Great-Grandfather, is the largest tree in Chile's
Alerce Costero National Park Alerce Costero National Park (, ) is a protected wild area in the Cordillera Pelada about from Valdivia and from La Unión. '' Fitzroya'' trees grow inside the protected area and give the area its name, with ''Alerce Costero'' translating as ...
. While it has been on the list of oldest trees, this Alerce tree (''
Fitzroya cupressoides ''Fitzroya'' is a monotypic genus in the cypress family. The single living species, ''Fitzroya cupressoides'', is a tall, long-lived conifer native to the Andes mountains and coastal regions of southern Chile, and only to the Argentine Andes, w ...
)'' is now rivalling others to be possibly the oldest tree in the world. In 2020, Jonathan Barichivich and Antonio Lara, of the
Austral University of Chile Austral University of Chile ( or UACh) is a Chilean research university based primarily in Valdivia, with satellite campuses in Puerto Montt and Coyhaique. Founded on September 7, 1954, it is one of the eight original Chilean Traditional Universi ...
, used an
increment borer Increment or incremental may refer to: *Incrementalism, a theory (also used in politics as a synonym for gradualism) * Increment and decrement operators, the operators ++ and -- in computer programming * Incremental computing * Incremental backup ...
to carefully retrieve a partial sample.


Geography

The Alerce Milenario Tree is located in a ravine, in the Alerce Coster National Park. The park is , and up to above sea level. It has a rainy temperate climate with rains all year round. Its average temperature is 12°C (53°F). The park receives about 10,000 visitors a year who visit the tree.


Description and condition of the tree

At more than across much of the crown fell away and part of the trunk died. Alerce Milenario is covered with lichens and mosses. It is estimated to have over 5000 rings. If accurate, that would be more than 100 years older than the current record holder. Barichivich said "Only 28 percent of the tree is actually alive, most of which is in the roots, so when people walk across the nearby soil, they're actively damaging the last remaining living parts of the tree."


Dendrochronology research needed

Dendrochronology Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of chronological dating, dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed in a tree. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, ...
(or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, the study of climate and atmospheric conditions during different periods in history from wood. Ed Cook from Columbia University has stated "The only way to truly determine the age of a tree is by dendrochronologically counting the rings and that requires all rings being present or accounted for". However, the method dendrochronology comes with challenges, primarily due to the need to examine the internal of a tree. This can cause damage, and the borers used can be insufficient for the width of some trees, particularly older species where the internal core is damaged or rotten. Jonathan Barichivich and Antonio Lara, of the
Austral University of Chile Austral University of Chile ( or UACh) is a Chilean research university based primarily in Valdivia, with satellite campuses in Puerto Montt and Coyhaique. Founded on September 7, 1954, it is one of the eight original Chilean Traditional Universi ...
, bored a partial hole into the tree as far as possible without damaging it. They used an increment borer—a T-shaped drill to excise a narrow cylinder of wood without harming the tree. The method has so far yielded evidence of approximately 2400 growth rings, but because the borer used could not reach the center of the tree, modelling was used to predict an overall age estimate of more than 5,000 years with 80% certainty.


Protection

It is hoped the findings of the age of the tree will lead Chile's government to better protect it. Chile's National Forest Corporation has stated it has increased protections for the tree, and added rangers to the park.


See also

*
List of individual trees The following is a list of individual trees. Trees listed here are regarded as important or specific by their historical, national, locational, natural or mythological context. The list includes actual trees located throughout the world, as we ...
*
List of oldest trees This is a list of the oldest-known trees, as reported in reliable sources. Definitions of what constitutes an individual tree vary. In addition, tree ages are derived from a variety of sources, including documented "tree-ring" ( dendrochronologic ...


References

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Further reading


Ancient Tree in Chile Could Be World's Oldest, Scientists Say
- Yale School of The Environment on 05-27-2022
Chile could be home to world's oldest tree, study suggests
- Reuters on 05-26-2022
Is the world's oldest tree growing in a ravine in Chile?
- Science.org on 05-20-2022 Alerce Costero National Park Tourist attractions in Los Ríos Region Valdivian temperate forests Cupressaceae Individual conifers Individual trees in Chile