Pando, the world's largest organism, may have been growing nonstop since the 1st humans left Africa, study suggests

Pando, an enormous quaking aspen that spans more than 100 acres (40 hectares) in Utah, is not only one of the largest known organisms on Earth — it's also one of the oldest, scientists have discovered. New research finds that the aspen (Populus tremuloides), which reproduces clonally through shoots called ramets, is between 16,000 and 80,000 years old. The oldest non-clonal organism on Earth is Methusalah (Pinus longaeva), a bristlecone pine in eastern California that is 4,856 years old.

The age estimate for Pando is based on the mutation rate over time in the aspen's genome. The study is not yet peer-reviewed and has been posted on the preprint website bioRxiv . There is a broad range in the estimate, study lead author Rozenn Pineau , a researcher at Utah State University, told Live Science, because the mutations in the aspen are rare, and it's not entirely clear how quickly these genetic quirks pile up in new shoots and stems.



But sampling of a lakebed near Pando also revealed the continuous presence of aspen pollen over 60,000 years, suggesting that the clone may have been around since the time humans began migrating out of Africa. "How did this organism survive all of the environmental changes that it has been facing throughout the years?" Pineau said. "These are really interesting questions to think about.

" Pando is the world's largest tree. Its name means "I spread" in Latin, and it does indeed spread: The organism has given rise to around 47,000 individual..

. Stephanie Pappas.