(双语文稿) 世界上最古老的树已经9950岁了

Transcript

What's sixteen feet tall and 9,550 years old? It’s the world's oldest tree. The worn and weathered spruce grows inSweden

's windswept tundra. But, until recently, well, recent to the tree at least, it barely resembled a tree at all. Before this last warm century, the spruce grew more like a shrub to survive the harsh conditions of its cold landscape. But rising temperatures convinced the tree to give up its shabby lifestyle, shed the majority of its needles and go with the single-trunk look. 

什么东西有16英尺高，有9550年的历史？它是世界上最古老的树。这棵饱经风霜的云杉生长在瑞典饱经风霜的苔原上。但是，直到最近，嗯，至少对这棵树来说，它几乎不像是一棵树。在上个温暖的世纪之前，云杉更像是一种灌木，在其寒冷的环境中生存。但是，气温的上升使这棵树放弃了它简陋的生活方式，脱落了大部分的针叶，并采用了单干的外观。

Researchers from Sweden's Umea University found the tree growing amid the remains of four generations of spruce dating from 375 to well over 9,000 years old. Spruce trees can clone themselves by sending new trees up through the ground from established roots. When the scientists tested the current tree, they found it was genetically identical with the remains of all four previous generations. Researchers are excited about having a 10,000-year-long case study of how past climate changes affected plant growth and productivity. It’s a finding sure to spruce up all of botany.

—Adam Hinterthuer 

来自瑞典于默奥大学的研究人员发现，这棵树生长在四代云杉的遗骸中，其年龄从375岁到远远超过9000岁。云杉树可以通过从已有的根部向地面输送新树来克隆自己。当科学家们对当前的树木进行测试时，他们发现它与之前所有四代的遗体在基因上是相同的。研究人员对拥有一个长达10,000年的案例研究感到兴奋，即过去的气候变化如何影响植物生长和生产力。这一发现肯定会使整个植物学界为之振奋。