Posted on 07/25/2019 1:22:39 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
A tree stump in New Zealand is very much alive, thanks to an interconnected root system that benefits both the stump and its neighboring trees. Scientists say this unusual symbiotic arrangement could change our very conception of what it means to be a tree.
We tend to think of trees as individuals, but the roots of some species fuse together to allow the sharing of resources, such as water, carbon, mineral nutrients, and microorganisms.
Leuzinger and Bader stumbled upon the stump while out for a hike. The woody stub caught their eye because callus tissue could be seen growing over its dead and rotting parts. It was also producing resin, which indicated the presence of living tissue. This prompted a more thorough investigation in which the researchers measured water flowing through the tissues of the stump, and also its rate of respiration, which matched those seen in the surrounding trees.
(Excerpt) Read more at gizmodo.com ...
I’ve read that also. Damned if I know where though.
My Mother’s maiden name was Stump. The old folks came from Darmstadt in Germany and over there the name was Schtumpf. When they got to York County, PA it got Englishized to Stump.
Nadler?
Nadler?
Not possible.
Nadler is a parasite.
And Chinese privet, Bradford Pear and Japanese Honeysuckle. And don’t get me started on kudzu!
Tulip Poplar:
Sweet Gum:
Help me out. That “fruit” or seed pod looks like what we call a Horse Chestnut.
As the authors write in the new study, these results indicate that such symbioses may be much more complex than previously assumed: by physiologically exploiting downtimes of transpiring trees during the night or rainy days with high water potentials in the root network living stumps seem to act partially autonomously, strategically tapping into resources rather than simply becoming part of the neighboring trees extended root networks. On its own, a stump cannot perform these functions. Trees need leaves for gas exchange and photosynthesis, which enables the production of carbohydrates. Without carbohydrates, trees and plants lack the energy and building blocks required for growth. But this leafless kauri tree stump is very much alive, its roots having grafted onto those of its living...
I know more that I identify as tree stumps.
I may be misremembering, but didn’t Frits Went propose that plants exchanged auxins and nutrients by fusing roots together something like sixty or more years ago.
You can take care of the “humor,” I’ll tend to mycology.
Gotta be due to Peter Jackson's LOTR project...
Actually, no. Very different trees and wood.
Sweet gum is mostly Liquidamabar styraciflua.
Tulip poplar is a light weight wood, easy to cut, work, split.
Sweet gum is the opposite.
Roger that. Thanks. The late Jerry Clower’s “Coon Hunting” story takes place in a Sweet Gum tree in which a raccoon has been treed. I always wondered if that was a Tulip Poplar. BFD...right? Thanks for the info, anyhow.
Shoot amongst Us! One of us needs relief!
It is undead.
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