Exactly when that seed sprouted, though, remains up in the air.
According to a team that recently estimated the organisms age, Pando is between 16,000 to 80,000 years old.
The teams research on Pando is not yet peer reviewed and ishostedon the preprint server bioRxiv.
Pando, a quaking aspen and one of the world’s oldest and largest organisms.Photo: J Zapell / Wikimedia Commons
We expected close trees in space to be more closely related genetically.
We find that that is the case, but to a much lower extent than we were expecting.
Yet, little is known about intra-organism mutation rates and evolutionary trajectories in long-lived species.
Some unknown process feels like limiting mutations from piling up across the grove, the researchers suggest.
It is very much possible to come to a narrower window.
Or the woolly rhino.
Or any other species that existed alongside Pando, but did not manage to outlive it.
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