The extraordinary lives of coast redwoods

https://www.noemamag.com/the-extraordinary-lives-of-coast-redwoods/

by PaulHoule • 2 years ago

99 33 2 years ago

tfwnopmt• 2 years ago

”We still don’t know why they get so high, nor why they’re not even taller”

We do know why they don’t get taller - past a certain height the trees can no longer draw water and nutrients up to the top. Foggy conditions can help the physics/chemistry limits, up to a point.

someone7x• 2 years ago

They eventually reveal the same conclusion, but with less certainty:

The answers to the “Why so tall?” and “Why not taller?” questions seem to involve water, as is the case for so much about trees.
Ultimately, it’s most likely a matter of hydraulics: A tree’s height appears to be limited by the enormous effort needed to lift water through tiny tubes, or xylem — the transport tissue that constitutes most of its mass.

DinaCoder99• 2 years ago

Given that the canopy itself modulates the moisture in the air, this explanation seems to provide a bound on the outlier of height relative to other trees more so than an absolute barrier.

VHRanger2• 2 years ago

Yes, there's a reason all the tallest trees recorded are a bit more than 100m high.

That's basically the upper limit to get water to the leaves up top

idontwantthis2• 2 years ago

But we also don’t fully know how trees draw up water.

Fiahil• 2 years ago

stomata open, light interacts with chlorophyll, water is moved and creates a tiny depression in the xylem tube, more water moves up through capillarity

RetroTechie• 2 years ago

Foggy conditions can help the physics/chemistry limits, up to a point.

From what I've read, moist air from the sea is an important factor in these trees' water balance. And it's getting more rare / drier on average.

It's a good bet that these trees on average will grow shorter in response to moisture / heat stress (mentioned in article). Perhaps also in response to stronger winds (not mentioned). Tough times ahead for the already-tall ones out there, though.

Btw: trees don't need to be big to be awe-inspiring. Once had a Metasequoia growing in a pot, sitting on my desk. Just ~50 cm. high, a close look revealed 5 or 6 spiders had taken up residence in it. Some ants walking up & down its branches. Various species of moss growing at its base. And an assortment of creatures wandering the soil underneath (mostly harmless or beneficial). A whole ecosystem of its own.

Nature is awesome, period.

wiredfool• 2 years ago

Dropping the salamanders into a wind tunnel and using high-speed cameras, researchers showed that the reptiles assume a stable skydiving posture,

This sounds like something that needs to be in the IgNobels.

pmcarlton• 2 years ago

Hopefully even the IgNobels will insist that salamanders not be referred to as reptiles!

because_789• 2 years ago

I was happy to see the word “bolus” in this essay.

block_dagger• 2 years ago

Discussion of redwoods makes me think of The Elephant in the Brain, which offers a solid explanation of why they are so tall and why humans are so intelligent. Short answer: individuals are competing within the species to outdo each other having sapped resources from other species.

chasil• 2 years ago

Factual summary:

- There are only three remaining redwood species in the world (China's Dawn redwood, sequoia, and West coast)

- A mature redwood adds, on average, a ton of wood to its mass every year.

- 96% of West coast redwoods' habitat has been lost.

- "Albino" redwoods exist that make no/little chlorophyll, surviving by alternate means.

- Some West coast redwood trees are 2,200 years old and reach up to 400 feet in height.

- Tall redwoods exert two million pounds of hydraulic force raising water to upper leaves.

- A fallen redwood was weighed at 3,630 tons, more than 16 times heavier than the Statue of Liberty.

- The marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus), an endangered seabird lives in the canopy. Its flight speed is up to a hundred miles an hour. The first nesting site was discovered in 1974 and nesting habits were completely unknown until then.

- Redwoods can endure fire, and appear to be evolving for greater heat endurance.

swyx• 2 years ago

ai generated? what tool

MiguelVieira• 2 years ago

96% of West coast redwoods' habitat has been lost.

To be clear, redwoods still grow in almost all of their former range. They were logged, but they grew back. About 4% was never logged and is old-growth.

You can see a map of the redwood range (light green) and remaining old-growth (dark green) here:

https://redwoodhikes.com

VHRanger2• 2 years ago

What's extraordinary is how ordinary massive trees used to be in North America.

http://www.oldgrowth.ca/the-past-isnt-what-it-used-to-be/

Even in Ontario we used to have forests where a large portion of trees were above 50m high, some close to the size of coast redwoods.

The entire west coast looked like this before clear cutting in the 1800s

canadiantim• 2 years ago

That's wild, I had no idea (and I live in Ontario). Thanks for sharing!

Althuns• 2 years ago

Lived in North Idaho for a time and int the forests you can still see a ton of massive stumps that don't match anything currently surviving nearby. It's a surreal and saddening experience.

divbzero• 2 years ago

Are there any swaths of land on Earth where old growth forests have not been clear cut? Perhaps parts of northern Canada?

knodi1232• 2 years ago

sure- parks and such. maybe "swath" is bigger than I pictured....

thresh• 2 years ago

Uh, Siberia and Russian European North.

smallerfish2• 2 years ago

Borneo has a huge area of primary forest, though it has been extensively logged. And of course the Amazon, the Congo, areas of Uganda, and many others.

jspash• 2 years ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Białowieża_Forest on Poland. Unfortunately, if some people have their way a good portion of it will be cut for profit. Battles over the wood have been going on for years. If you are ever in the region it's worth a visit.

crotchfire• 2 years ago

Yes, huge swaths of them in Olympic National Park. Washington State, USA. Here's the giant spruce:

https://www.scenicwa.com/poi/quinault-rain-forest-worlds-lar...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_National_Park

The park is almost a million acres; it's enormous -- larger than small countries like Luxembourg. There are two entrances; most visitors go to the North entrance near Port Angeles to see mountains. If you want to see trees and beaches take the Southwest entrance at Lake Quinault instead.

I recommend the North Coast hike from La Push to Chilean Memorial. It's a multi-day hike, and you need to get a permit from the Park Service office at Lake Quinault beforehand. But it's worth it. Remember to get a copy of the tide charts so you don't get trapped by the tides.

https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/north-coast-beach-travel...

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/chilean-memorial

phkahler• 2 years ago

> Even in Ontario we used to have forests where a large portion of trees were above 50m high

There are still some in Michigan:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartwick_Pines_State_Park

idontwantthis2• 2 years ago

the tallest carbon-bearing organisms on Earth.

What on Earth is outside of that qualifier??

knodi1232• 2 years ago

They're trying to avoid the embarrassment of a retraction in case someone invents interstellar FTL travel and finds a counterexample.

deepfriedchokes• 2 years ago

Stories like this need pictures.

julienchastang• 2 years ago

Speaking of which, absolutely love that first and only picture at the top of the article. However, I am pretty sure that is a Sequoiadendron giganteum and not a Sequoia sempervirens which are the coastal redwoods the article speaks about.

farzinadil• 2 years ago

If you can, you should visit Redwood National Park.

m463• 2 years ago

there's both majesty and tragedy walking through the california redwoods.

The old-growth trees are amazing giants.

The other redwoods are beautiful too, until you start understanding the pattern of a ring of redwoods, surrounding the stump or hole. This is where an old-growth redwood grew for thousands of years, and was clear-cut to rebuild san francisco after the 1906 earthquake. not just for the wood to build, but to just burn. sigh.

The extraordinary lives of coast redwoods

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