A species of old -fashioned tree which is completely new for science has hidden in a narrow slice of tropical mountain forest in Tanzania. Scientists have named the tree piercing the canopy Tessmannia PrincepsAnd they suspect that he could live up to 3,000 years.
In 2019, the botanist Andrea Bianchi and Two local plant expertsAloyce and Ruben Mwakisoma, watched tropical forests Udzungwa mountains In the South Center of Tanzania, when they suddenly encountered an “unarmed” foreigner 40 meters (130 feet) high.
The monstrous tree on their way was different from all those that the group had previously seen in their forest census. Its grayish and light brown bark, its imposing root buttresses, its brown hair leaves and its gently scented flowers have challenged scientific categorization.
The newly described persistent leaf tree is now supposed to belong to the Tessmannia genderwhich includes a dozen other species from tropical Africa. Scientists say that he is “easily distinguished” from others in his genre because of his many leaflets.
An in -depth survey in neighboring tropical forest plots only revealed 100 other mature individuals in the T. Princeps The species, the oldest of which can be much over 2,000 years, on the basis of the rings of his female comrades.
An additional dating to the radiocarbon is necessary to confirm this, but simply a globe in the trees, it is quite obvious that they have existed for a long time. The root buttresses sometimes extend up to 15 meters, up to the first branch of the canopy.
Trees are part of a criticism ‘ecosystem“This unites two 30 million years of forests in Tanzania.
This green corridor is home to the restoration of a private company, which seeks to protect other forest plots from human influence while raising 5,500 villagers of poverty. Without continuous restoration work, Bianchi and his colleagues suspect that the newly identified species would be “immediately threatened with loss of habitat”.
Researchers estimate that there are only about 1,000 T. Princeps On the left, and they think that the species is largely limited to two adjacent valleys. A population exists in the terrestrial forest reserve of the village of Boma La Mzinga and the land forestry reserve of the village of Uluti.
“The historical past of the area in which the tree is probably had a major impact on the decline of the habitat of this species”. to write The authors of the new species description.
“The vast majority of mountain forests in the immediate vicinity have been deforested in the past 120 years.”
Old-fashioned trees like these provide A range of ecosystem services, including shadow, carbon storage and habitat for plants and animals. However, these are some of the most threatened plants of our time.
Not only the forests of the world decrease, but they are become youngAnd this is a big problem for forest conservation and climate science.
In 2018, the world lost nearly 4 million hectares of ancient tropical forestwhich is roughly the size of Belgium.
Tessmannia Princeps stands in front of adversity. But who knows if it can be protected for three other millennia.
In 2023, scientists foreseen that 75% of the plant species not described were threatened with extinction. Depending on the current designations, T. Princeps would meet the criteria that will be listed as vulnerable. He is one of the lucky ones.
The study was published in Phytotaxa.