Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 13, 2025
14:44
Field Collection and Laboratory Maintenance of Canopy-Forming Giant Kelp to Facilitate Restoration
Published on: June 7, 2024
1.7K
Size-focused conservation may fail to protect the world's oldest trees
Yumei Mu1, David Lindenmayer2, Shilu Zheng1
1MOE Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, National Observations and Research Station for Wetland Ecosystems of the Yangtze Estuary, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China.
Current Biology : CB
|October 11, 2023
Summary
Tree size is a poor indicator of age in old trees, with diameter explaining only 10% of age variance. Current conservation efforts focused on large trees overlook many small, ancient trees, especially in harsh environments.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Botany
- Conservation Biology
Background:
- Old trees are vital natural resources with numerous benefits.
- Current conservation often prioritizes large trees, assuming size correlates with age.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if tree size accurately predicts age in old trees.
- To compare the spatial distribution of small old trees versus large old trees.
Main Methods:
- Compiled paired age and diameter data from 121,918 trees across 269 species globally.
- Utilized tree-ring records for precise age determination.
Main Results:
- Tree size is a weak predictor of age; diameter explained only 10% of age variance in old trees.
- Small old trees are found in cold, dry, unprotected environments, unlike large old trees in protected, warm, wet areas.
Conclusions:
- Size-based conservation strategies are insufficient for protecting all old trees.
- A comprehensive system recognizing age and characteristics, not just size, is needed.
- Urgent need for protected areas specifically for small old trees.
Related Concept Videos
02:07Conservation of Declining Populations
9.7K
Conservation of declining population focuses on ways of detecting, diagnosing, and halting a population decline. The approach uses methods to prevent populations from going extinct.
9.7K
02:04Conservation of Small Populations
13.2K
Small population sizes put a species at extreme risk of extinction due to a lack of variation, and a consequent decrease in adaptability. This weakens the chances of survival under pressures such as climate change, competition from other species, or new diseases. Large populations are more likely to survive pressures such as these, as such populations are more likely to harbor individuals that have genetic variants that are adaptive under new stresses. Small populations are much less...
13.2K
01:57What is Conservation Biology?
18.5K
Conservation biology is a scientific field that focuses on the preservation of biodiversity in order to protect ecosystems while meeting the needs of the human population. Humans require properly functioning ecosystems to maintain our supply of natural resources, including food, medicines, and building materials.
18.5K
01:50Threats to Biodiversity
22.4K
There have been five major extinction events throughout geological history, resulting in the elimination of biodiversity, followed by a rebound of species that adapted to the new conditions. In the current geological epoch, the Holocene, there is a sixth extinction event in progress. This mass extinction has been attributed to human activities and is thus provisionally called the Anthropocene. In 2019 the human population reached 7.7 billion people and is projected to comprise 10 billion by...
22.4K
02:31Habitat Fragmentation
17.6K
Habitat fragmentation describes the division of a more extensive, continuous habitat into smaller, discontinuous areas. Human activities such as land conversion, as well as slower geological processes leading to changes in the physical environment, are the two leading causes of habitat fragmentation. The fragmentation process typically follows the same steps: perforation, dissection, fragmentation, shrinkage, and attrition.
17.6K
01:19Survival Tree
89
Survival trees are a non-parametric method used in survival analysis to model the relationship between a set of covariates and the time until an event of interest occurs, often referred to as the "time-to-event" or "survival time." This method is particularly useful when dealing with censored data, where the event has not occurred for some individuals by the end of the study period, or when the exact time of the event is unknown.
Building a Survival Tree
Constructing a...
Building a Survival Tree
Constructing a...
89