Twisted shapes of historic timber might clarify their excessive longevity

Pine timber which might be greater than 600 years outdated have uncommon branching patterns and different unusual traits that counsel a robust capacity to adapt to emphasize

By Alice Klein

The twisted, deformed shapes of very outdated pine timber could also be an indication of an distinctive capacity to adapt to emphasize that has helped them reside for greater than 600 years.

Historic timber are necessary as a result of they retailer giant quantities of carbon, maintain information of the previous local weather and function pillars of forest ecosystems. “Like old people in human societies, they connect everything,” says Sergi Munné-Bosch on the College of Barcelona in Spain.

Munné-Bosch …