Pando (tree)

The Pando tree was identified in 1976 by Jerry Kemperman and Burton V. Barnes.{{Cite journal|last1=Kemperman|first1=Jerry A.|last2=Barnes|first2=Burton V.|date=1976-11-15|title=Clone size in American aspens|journal=Canadian Journal of Botany|volume=54|issue=22|pages=2603–2607|doi=10.1139/b76-280|bibcode=1976CaJB...54.2603K |s2cid=85891968 |issn=0008-4026}}{{cite journal|last1=Mock|first1=K. E.|last2=Rowe|first2=C. A.|last3=Hooten|first3=M. B.|last4=Dewoody|first4=J.|last5=Hipkins|first5=V. D.|year=2008|title=Clonal dynamics in western North American aspen (Populus tremuloides)|url=https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/27665/PDF|journal=Molecular Ecology|volume=17|issue=22|pages=4827–4844|doi=10.1111/j.1365-294X.2008.03963.x|pmid=19140975|bibcode=2008MolEc..17.4827M |s2cid=1425039|access-date=2018-11-17|archive-date=2018-09-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919025226/https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/27665/PDF|url-status=dead|url-access=subscription}} A posthumous biography by Barnes' colleague, Daniel Kashian,{{cite journal |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/p/pod/dod-idx/burton-v-barnes-as-a-forest-botanist.pdf?c=mbot;idno=0497763.0054.108;format=pdf |title=Burton v. Barnes as a Forest Botanist |first1=Christopher W. |last1=Dick |first2=Michael R. |last2=Penskar |first3=Anton A. |last3=Reznicek |journal=The Michigan Botanist |volume=54 |pages=46–52}} details Pando's discovery:

{{Blockquote|text=As a part of his aspen work in the West, Burt began to examine an extremely large trembling aspen clone southwest of Fish Lake, Utah, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Using aerial photography and the same morphological differentiation

techniques he developed for aspen at UMBS for his dissertation, Burt concluded that the aspen forest that covered about 106 acres was a single aspen clone, quite possibly the “world’s largest organism.” Other than a single publication about aspen clone size and another great story to tell his students, Burt’s studies on the Fish Lake clone were relatively obscure.|author=Daniel M. Kashian|title=Burton V. Barnes (1930–2014)}}

Work by Fishlake National Forest to understand and protect the tree began in 1987, according to interviews and articles written by Fishlake Forest as well as accounts gathered by Friends of Pando.{{Cite web |title=History of Land Management in Pando |url=https://www.friendsofpando.org/the-pando-tree-2/land-management-pando/ |access-date=2023-10-31 |website=Friends of Pando |language=en-US}} Based on Barnes and Kempermans's 1976 paper noting Pando's discovery, Michael Grant, Jeffrey Mitton, and Yan Linhart of the University of Colorado at Boulder re-examined the clone in 1992 and described Pando as a single male aspen clone based on its morphological characteristics such as pollen production, leaves, and root structure. Michael Grant named the tree "Pando" which is Latin for "I spread" in an editorial which was later published in Discover Magazine.{{Cite web |last=Grant |first=Michael C. |orig-date=October 1, 1993 |date=November 11, 2019 |title=The Trembling Giant |url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/the-trembling-giant |access-date=April 12, 2024 |website=Discover Magazine}} A large scale genetic sampling and analysis was published in 2008 by Jennifer DeWoody, Karen Mock, Valerie Hipkins and Carol Rowe.{{Cite journal |last1=DeWoody |first1=Jennifer |last2=Rowe |first2=Carol |last3=Hipkins |first3=Valerie |last4=Mock |first4=Karen |date=2008-01-01 |title=Pando lives: molecular genetic evidence of a giant aspen clone in central Utah |url=https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/aspen_bib/3164 |journal=Western North American Naturalist |volume=68 |issue=4 |pages=493–497 |doi=10.3398/1527-0904-68.4.493|bibcode=2008WNAN...68..493D |url-access=subscription }} The research team's genetic study confirmed morphological analysis by Barnes and Kemperman as well as Mitton, Grant and Linhart thus, verifying Pando's size and scale of operation.

File:Pando 2021 Official Picture.jpg

In late 1987, Fishlake National Forest began work to remove diseased trees and promote new growth using coppicing (a form of mechanical stimulation),{{Cite journal |last=Shepperd |first=Wayne D. |date=2001 |title=Manipulations to regenerate aspen ecosystems |url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/35842 |journal=In: Shepperd, Wayne D.; Binkley, Dan; Bartos, Dale L.; Stohlgren, Thomas J.; Eskew, Lane G., Comps. Sustaining Aspen in Western Landscapes: Symposium Proceedings; 13–15 June 2000; Grand Junction, CO. Proceedings RMRS-P-18. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. P. 355-366. |language=en |volume=18 |pages=355–366}} which works by simultaneously removing diseased stems, while also stimulating the hormone response that spurs new growth.{{Cite web |title=History of Land Management in Pando |url=https://www.friendsofpando.org/the-pando-tree-2/land-management-pando/ |access-date=2023-11-02 |website=Friends of Pando |language=en-US}} In 1993, Fishlake National Forest began work on the "Aspen Regeneration Project", installing fences to help control deer and elk who threatened to destroy the productive results of work to spur and protect new growth. Today, 53 acres of Pando is protected by 8-foot fences to control populations of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and elk (Cervus canadensis), and to control human uses, such as permitted grazing by domestic cattle (Bos taurus). Additional fencing protections are to be added in 2025 bringing approximately 84 acres of Pando's landmass into protective care or around 80% of the tree's landmass.{{Cite web |last=Lundgren |first=Written by Alysha |date=2024-09-11 |title=$250K project slated to protect south-central Utah's 'trembling giant' |url=https://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/250k-project-slated-to-protect-south-central-utahs-trembling-giant/article_34657d64-6ad3-11ef-a3be-3be8fc6fe930.html |access-date=2024-09-25 |website=St. George News |language=en}}

Regeneration rates in portions of the "Aspen Regeneration Project" which started in the 1990s, showed promise based on photographic evidence and repeated survey plots by land managers, scientists and conservation groups between 1993 and today.{{Cite web |date=2020-03-05 |title=Pando Clone Recovery |url=https://www.grandcanyontrust.org/pando-clone-recovery |access-date=2023-11-15 |website=Grand Canyon Trust |language=en}} Despite this, many have argued more work needs to be done to control wildlife, as the Pando Tree is surrounded by 700 square miles of de facto wildlife preserve managed by people, groups and agencies who do not have Pando's sustainability as a central concern in their land management policies. Paul Rogers and Darren McAvoy of Utah State University completed an assessment of Pando's status in 2018 and stressed the importance of reducing herbivory by mule deer and elk as critical to conserving Pando. In 2019, Rogers and Jan Šebesta surveyed other vegetation within Pando besides aspen, finding additional support for their 2018 conclusions and found that interactions between browsing and management strategy may have had adverse effects on Pando's long-term resilience to change.{{Cite journal|last1=Rogers|first1=Paul C.|last2=Šebesta|first2=Jan|date=December 2019|title=Past Management Spurs Differential Plant Communities within a Giant Single-Clone Aspen Forest|journal=Forests|language=en|volume=10|issue=12|pages=1118|doi=10.3390/f10121118|doi-access=free|bibcode=2019Fore...10.1118R }} In 2023, a team of researchers, land managers, wildlife biologists and citizen scientists groups began long-term programs to monitor deer and elk using GPS collars and wildlife cameras to better understand wildlife, as well as deer and elk browsing on the tree.{{Cite web |title=Once given a death sentence, Utah's Pando aspen grove has 'come a long way' |url=https://www.sltrib.com/news/2023/08/14/once-given-death-sentence-utahs/ |access-date=2023-10-31 |website=The Salt Lake Tribune |language=en-US}} In 2022, Executive Order 14702 directed the US Forest Service to inventory old growth and mature forest as part of a plan to protect mature and old growth forest. Data submitted by Fishlake National Forest defined Pando's landmass as mature meaning it could be eligible for special care and protections.{{Cite web |date=2024-08-13 |title=Mature and Old-Growth Forests |url=https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/d917b84fc4ee4b84bf823bf5fa6cb236 |access-date=2024-09-25 |website=ArcGIS StoryMaps: Old Growth and Mature Forest, US Forest Service Inventory |language=en}}

File:Pando map with fences.jpg

Most agree, based on Barnes' work and later work, that Pando encompasses {{convert|42.89|ha|acres|sigfig=3|abbr=}}, weighs an estimated {{convert|6000|metric ton|short ton}} or 13.2 million pounds, and features an estimated 47,000 stems, which die individually and are replaced by genetically identical stems that are sent up from the tree's vast root system, a process known as "suckering". The root system is estimated to be several thousand years old, with habitat modeling suggesting a maximum age of 14,000 years{{Cite journal |last1=Mock |first1=K. E. |last2=Rowe |first2=C. A. |last3=Hooten |first3=M. B. |last4=Dewoody |first4=J. |last5=Hipkins |first5=V. D. |date=November 2008 |title=Clonal dynamics in western North American aspen ( Populus tremuloides ) |journal=Molecular Ecology |language=en |volume=17 |issue=22 |pages=4827–4844 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-294X.2008.03963.x |pmid=19140975 |bibcode=2008MolEc..17.4827M |s2cid=1425039}}{{Cite journal|last1=Ding|first1=Chen|last2=Schreiber|first2=Stefan G.|last3=Roberts|first3=David R.|last4=Hamann|first4=Andreas|last5=Brouard|first5=Jean S.|date=2017-07-05|title=Post-glacial biogeography of trembling aspen inferred from habitat models and genetic variance in quantitative traits|journal=Scientific Reports|language=en|volume=7|issue=1|page=4672|doi=10.1038/s41598-017-04871-7|issn=2045-2322|pmc=5498503|pmid=28680120|bibcode=2017NatSR...7.4672D}} and 16,000 years by the latest (2024) estimate. Individual stems do not typically live more than 100–130 years.

Mitton and Grant summarize the development of stems in aspen clones:

{{blockquote|... quaking aspen regularly reproduces via a process called suckering. An individual stem can send out lateral roots that, under the right conditions, send up other erect stems; from all above-ground appearances the new stems look just like individual trees. The process is repeated until a whole stand, of what appear to be individual trees, forms. This collection of multiple stems, called ramets, all form one, single, genetic individual, usually termed a clone.}}

Due to the progressive replacement of stems and roots, the overall age of an aspen clone cannot be determined from tree rings. Speculations on Pando's age have ranged between 80,000 years to 1 million years old. Many news sources list Pando's age as 80,000 years old, but this claim derives from a now-removed National Park Service web page, which redacted that claim in 2023 and, was inconsistent with the Forest Service's post ice-age estimate.{{Cite web |last=United States Forest Service |first=Fishlake National Forest |title=Pando - (I Spread) |url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/fishlake/home/?cid=STELPRDB5393641}} Glaciers repeatedly formed on the Fish Lake Plateau{{Cite web |title=A Geologic History of Fishlake, Pando's Home |url=https://www.friendsofpando.org/the-pando-tree-2/geologic-history-fishlake/ |access-date=2023-11-15 |website=Friends of Pando |language=en-US}} over the past several hundred thousand years and the mountains above Pando's landmass were crowned by glaciers as recently as the last glacial maximum.{{Cite journal|last1=Marchetti|first1=David W.|last2=Harris|first2=M. Scott|last3=Bailey|first3=Christopher M.|last4=Cerling|first4=Thure E.|last5=Bergman|first5=Sarah|date=January 2011|title=Timing of glaciation and last glacial maximum paleoclimate estimates from the Fish Lake Plateau, Utah|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/quaternary-research/article/timing-of-glaciation-and-last-glacial-maximum-paleoclimate-estimates-from-the-fish-lake-plateau-utah/A282EBE1F069D366B3398A966BA4DBA2|journal=Quaternary Research|language=en|volume=75|issue=1|pages=183–195|doi=10.1016/j.yqres.2010.09.009|bibcode=2011QuRes..75..183M|s2cid=128684169|issn=0033-5894|url-access=subscription}} Ages greater than approximately 16,000 years therefore require Pando to have survived climate conditions during the Pinedale glaciation, something that appears unlikely under current estimates of Pando's age and modeling of variations in local climate. A 2017 paper by Chen Ding et al. seems to support US Forest Service claims that Pando could not be older than the last Glacial Maximum in the area based on paleo-climate models and genetic traits of aspen sites throughout North America.{{Cite journal |last=Ding |first=Chen |date=July 5, 2017 |title=Post-glacial biogeography of trembling aspen inferred from habitat models and genetic variance in quantitative traits |journal=Scientific Reports|volume=7 |issue=1 |page=4672 |doi=10.1038/s41598-017-04871-7 |pmid=28680120 |bibcode=2017NatSR...7.4672D |pmc=5498503 }} A 2024 paper indicates the age could be between 16,000 and 80,000 years old again based on the first somatic mutation model of the tree, but, that research has not finished peer review and also relies on older material and testing methods. Thus, charcoal studies published in 2022 provide the lower-end range of the Pando's potential age---around 9,000 years old, while the somatic mutation models' most conservative estimate of 16,000 years old awaits replication using new material and methods, and will also require climate models to prove conditions were favorable to the Pando seed being able to germinate and establish itself during this period.

Estimates of Pando's age have also been influenced by changes in the understanding of establishment of aspen clones in western North America. Earlier sources argued germination and successful establishment of aspen on new sites was rare in the last 10,000 years and therefore, Pando's root system was likely over 10,000 years old. More recent observations, however, have shown seedling establishment of new aspen clones is a regular occurrence and can be abundant on sites exposed by wildfire.{{cite journal |last=Kay |first=Charles E. |date=1993 |title=Aspen seedlings in recently burned areas of Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks |journal=Northwest Science |volume=67 |issue=2 |pages=94–104 |url=https://research.libraries.wsu.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/2376/1576/v67%20p94%20Kay.PDF?sequence=1 |access-date=2018-11-17 |archive-date=2018-11-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117233505/https://research.libraries.wsu.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/2376/1576/v67%20p94%20Kay.PDF?sequence=1 |url-status=dead }} These findings are summarized in the U.S. Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System:{{cite web |last1=Howard |first1=Janet L. |title=Populus tremuloides |url=http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/poptre/all.html#BOTANICAL%20AND%20ECOLOGICAL%20CHARACTERISTICS|website=Fire Effects Information System |publisher=U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory |access-date=2018-11-17 |date=1996}}

{{blockquote|Kay documented post-fire quaking aspen seedling establishment following 1986 and 1988 fires in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, respectively. He found seedlings were concentrated in kettles and other topographic depressions, seeps, springs, lake margins, and burnt-out riparian zones. A few seedlings were widely scattered throughout the burns. In Grand Teton National Park, establishment was greatest (950–2,700 seedlings/ha) in 1989, a wet year, but hundreds to thousands of seedlings established each year despite drought conditions in 1986–1988 and 1990–1991. Seedlings surviving past one season occurred almost exclusively on severely burned surfaces.}}

• In 2006, the United States Postal Service published a stamp in commemorating Pando which was designed by artist Lonnie Busch, calling it one of the forty "Wonders of America".{{cite book |last=Sussman |first=Rachel |title=The Oldest Living Things in the World |date=2014 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-05764-4 |page=59 |chapter=Pando |doi=10.7208/chicago/9780226057644.001.0001 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rweMAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT93}}{{cite web |title=Wonders of America: Land of Superlatives |url=http://www.usps.com/communications/news/stamps/2006/wash06downloads.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202154353/http://www.usps.com/communications/news/stamps/2006/wash06downloads.htm |archive-date=2 December 2008}}
• In 2013, Pando featured as the backdrop and the subject of a music video for a successful campaign led by 4th graders of nearby Monroe, Utah, United States, to have the State of Utah's Tree be changed from Colorado Spruce to the Quaking Aspen.{{Citation |title=Utah's State Tree: The Quaking Aspen, by Monroe Elementary | date=November 21, 2014 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6y7r8Dbb-A |access-date=2023-10-31 |language=en}}{{Cite web |last1=March 26 |first1=Benjamin Wood {{!}} Posted- |last2=P.m |first2=2014 at 9:45 |title=Utah state tree changes thanks to elementary students |url=https://www.ksl.com/article/29222272/utah-state-tree-changes-thanks-to-elementary-students |access-date=2023-10-31 |website=www.ksl.com |language=en}} The song the children sang was written by Utah folk artist and songwriter, Clive Romney.{{Cite web |title=Clive Romney: Mormon Musician - Mormonism, The Mormon Church, Beliefs, & Religion - MormonWiki |url=https://www.mormonwiki.com/Clive_Romney:_Mormon_Musician |access-date=2023-10-31 |website=www.mormonwiki.com |archive-date=October 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031071757/https://www.mormonwiki.com/Clive_Romney:_Mormon_Musician |url-status=dead }}
• In 2018, the Pando Aspen Clone figures as a central figure in the life of the character Patricia Westerford in Richard Powers' novel The Overstory.
• In 2021, children's book author Kate Allen Fox published "[https://kateallenfox.com/books Pando: A Living Wonder of Trees"] earning her a School Library Journal Award{{Cite web|url=https://www.slj.com/review/pando-a-living-wonder-of-trees|title=Pando: A Living Wonder of Trees|first=Fox, Kate|last=Allen|website=School Library Journal}} for the work.
• In 2022, an episode of NBC TV Show "The Blacklist" entitled "The Trembling Giant"{{Citation |title=Watch The Blacklist Clip: The Trembling Giant {{!}} NBC's The Blacklist - NBC.com |url=https://www.nbc.com/the-blacklist/video/the-trembling-giant-nbcs-the-blacklist/NBCE743749995 |access-date=2023-10-31 |language=en-US}} (a nickname for Pando) features a scene where central character Raymond 'Red' Reddington details the tree's operation.
• In 2022, Friends of Pando published audio works by sound conservationist and artist Jeff Rice documenting the tree's subterranean workings for the first time.{{Cite web |title=Pando's voice: Unveiling the acoustic wonders of Southern Utah's most famous tree |date=August 30, 2023 |url=https://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2023/08/30/agl-pandos-voice-unveiling-the-acoustic-wonders-of-southern-utahs-most-famous-tree/ |access-date=2023-10-31 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=The Sweet Song Of The Largest Tree On Earth |url=https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/listen-to-the-pando-largest-tree/ |access-date=2023-10-31 |website=Science Friday |language=en-US}}{{Citation |title=Listening to the Largest Tree on Earth | date=May 27, 2023 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDGMD_y22-4 |access-date=2023-10-31 |language=en}}
• In 2022, Pando was the subject of an issue of the webcomic xkcd published on December 23, which facetiously suggests adding to Pando's many world records that of world's largest Christmas tree by running a 9,300-foot-long string of Christmas lights through the branches along its perimeter.{{Cite web |url=https://xkcd.com/2715/ |title=xkcd: Pando |date=2021-12-23 |website=xkcd |access-date=2023-12-09 |language=en-US}}
• In 2024, the Hallmark Channel had a movie titled Branching Out, set in Utah, in which a young girl searches for the paternal side of her family, as her mom had used a donor for an IVF conception. The girl's mom and the donor fall in love. At the film's conclusion, as the girl presents her "family tree" project to her class, she explains her family tree is a Pando, as the newfound family and her are all interconnected, like the Pando tree.
• In 2024, Intel Computer Chip Corporation named a novel quantum computing control chip "Pando Tree"[https://community.intel.com/t5/Blogs/Tech-Innovation/Data-Center/Intel-s-Millikelvin-Quantum-Research-Control-Chip-Provides/post/1608558]. While many technology organizations have utilized "Pando" in terms of its Latin meaning for "spread", the naming is the first to explicitly honor the Pando Tree itself.

• Basal shoot
• List of oldest trees
• List of individual trees
• Rhizome
• Vegetative reproduction
• Largest organisms
• Auxin
• Cytokinins
• Posidonia australis

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin|}}

• {{cite journal|last1=Barnes|first1=Burton V.|title=The Clonal Growth Habit of American Aspens|journal=Ecology|date=1966|volume=47|issue=3|pages=439–447|doi=10.2307/1932983|jstor=1932983|bibcode=1966Ecol...47..439B }}
• {{cite journal|last1=Barnes|first1=Burton V.|title=Phenotypic variation of trembling aspen in western North America|journal=Forest Science|date=1975|volume=21|issue=3|pages=319–328|doi=10.1093/forestscience/21.3.319|doi-broken-date=November 1, 2024|url=https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/aspen_bib/5155}}
• {{cite book|last1=Einspahr|first1=Dean W.|last2=Winton|first2=Lawson L.|date=1977|orig-year=1976|title=Genetics of quaking aspen|series=Research Paper|volume=WO-25|publisher=USDA Forest Service}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Kemperman|first1=Jerry A.|last2=Barnes|first2=Burton V.|title=Clone size in American aspens|journal=Canadian Journal of Botany|date=1976|volume=54|issue=22|pages=2603–2607|doi=10.1139/b76-280|doi-access=free|bibcode=1976CaJB...54.2603K }}
• {{cite book|last=McDonough|first=W.T.|date=1985|chapter=Sexual reproduction, seeds and seedlings|chapter-url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/27775|title=Aspen: ecology and management in the western United States|editor1-first=N.V.|editor1-last=DeByle|editor2-first=R.P.|editor2-last=Winokur.|series=Gen. Tech. Rep.|volume=RM-119|publisher=USDA Forest Service|location=Fort Collins, CO|pages=25–28}}

{{refend}}

• {{commons category-inline|Pando (tree)}}
• Friends of Pando "[https://www.friendsofpando.org/the-pando-tree-2/ A Guide to All Things Pando]"

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Category:Populus

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Category:Fishlake National Forest