Pando, The Largest Living Organism on Earth, Is Being Eaten Alive

Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about Pando, the largest organism on Earth
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[Knapweed]

When Acacia was being overeaten by Kudu, the plant ramped up its tannin production. The tannin killed the bacteria necessary to digest the Acacia leaves resulting in thousands of Kudu starving to death despite having full stomachs.

[modularmuse]

I thought it was a fungus located in the Pacific Northwest. These trees are beautiful and intriguing, thanks for the info.

[peter]

This enlightened me. About an acre of my land on the most harsh windblown corner of my property is covered with these trees I first thought was birch. I will not be cutting them now.

[fuzzyfishnutz]

We have tons of these quaking aspens or “quakies” all over here in Utah. I would love to go visit the Pando site sometime. Gorgeous trees—in fact, we finally made them our state tree.

[benoloughlin]

Incredible, Anton! One of the oldest organisms in the world is down here in Tasmania. King’s Lomatia (Lomatia tasmanica) are a single clone estimated to be 43, 000 years old.

[Bob-of-Zoid]

Hey Anton! What about the huge mushroom growing throughout Washington state, all the way down to south central Oregon? It runs through the giant redwood forest too. It's a single organism of an edible species of honey mushrooms! Yum! It actually rules the area it grows in, and can allow some plants to grow, even encourage them, as well as snuffing out any that try to take over, and potentially threatening it.

[OrbitalHUB]

Wow...aspens are all over the mountains around our cabin in Colorado. I had no idea they were all connected, though they always had a majestic, mythical aura to them. Their leaves turn a bright yellow in the fall and make an unbelievably relaxing sound when they catch the wind, breezing through.

When you touch the bark, white powder rubs off...interesting.

[peterroberts]

Sounds like venison is back on the menu boys.

[dakotaperalta]

I thought the biggest life forms were underground mushrooms stretching for several miles.

[headlessspaceman]

This is a fantastic video about a forest in my home state of Utah. Thanks for always bringing the science! Just wanted to add a few things. It's true that the aspen is the first to grow back after a forest fire, and that the volunteer sprouts need lots of sunlight, an opening in the forest canopy in other words. In fact, aspen is a succession forest that rotates constantly in a 350-500 year cycle in these Western montane forest belts. The aspen trees live for 100-130 years, then shrivel and topple as you mentioned. But a magical thing happens while the aspens are maturing. They provide sufficient dappled/partial sunlight to the forest floor, and also partial shelter, for the evergreens like spruce and mixed firs to sprout from seedlings. As the spruce and mixed firs are maturing, they begin to crowd out the aspen trees. eventually it will be all spruce and pine shoulder to shoulder and no aspen left. But because aspen grows from a root colony, it will be the first to reappear when the evergreen forest begins to die out or eventually burns in a forest fire, which also occur naturally once or twice a century. Anywhere you go in the forested mountains of the North American West, you will see forests in some stage of this succession. Pure aspen stand. Aspen with little spruce saplings. Aspen with big spruces. Spruce/fir takes over. Spruce/fir burns down. Aspen volunteers. Repeat.

Lastly, it's true that there are a lot of deer and elk because Utah, like most western states, is determined to kill all of the cougars, wolves and coyotes. The state pays anyone in Utah $50 per coyote they kill, at any time of year. The state of Utah has an official policy against the reestablishment of a wolf pack in the state. A few years ago a hunter who said he "thought it was a coyote" killed an endangered, radio-collared grey wolf named Echo. The state of Utah not only did NOT hold the hunter accountable, they also protected the hunter's identity.

Part of the reason there are so many deer and elk in Utah is because of the lack of 4-legged predators, and the larger reason is that deer and elk and other trophy animals are managed for maximum population for purposes of sport and/or subsistence hunting. (I see some commenter lamenting the decline of sport hunting as the source of deer overpopulation and I assure you this is not the case, hunting has not declined in Utah, if anything it continues to grow in popularity.) Sport hunting is a huge industry in Utah that draws hunters from all other states as far as Florida, from badgers to black bears, from Sandhill cranes to sage grouse to trumpeter swans, in Utah it's legal to kill pretty much every animal that lives or migrates here, at some time of year, with the proper permit. No permit necessary to kill coyotes though.

Also the stock deer footage you showed are some kind of deer that don't live in North America. I think you showed a red deer? Our deer lose their spots before they ever get antlers, both mule deer and white tail deer. It doesn't really matter because I'm sure they're very similar but it would appear obvious to anyone from Utah anyway, that those are some foreign deer.

I would like to see more studies examining the relationship between wolves and cougars, ungulate overgrazing, and healthy forest succession. Under natural circumstances it seems impossible for deer and elk to get overpopulated to the point they start to overgraze, this seems like a manmade problem. But in addition, a study out of Wisconsin (or Minnesota?) showed that wolf populations keep the deer off the roads and roadsides and resulted in far fewer car crashes and far fewer vehicle fatalities. In other words: Wolves Save Lives. Apparently hundreds of vehicular fatalities every year in every state with deer is just the cost of anti-wolf policies. I'm sure there's nothing anyone can do about it though. Anti-wolf sentiments originate with the introduction of non-native cattle and sheep in the US, and run deeper than hatred of Communism and immigrants..

[GerardMenvussa]

I wonder if one day we will be able to map the root system. It must be fascinating seeing how it organized itself around the terrain.

[ricomartinez]

Hiking in Colorado, I remember seeing these trees and at first thinking they were birch because of the color of the bark, and how it looks far away. But close up, aspen trees have a very different bark from Burch. Anywho, it's amazing to know that the aspen trees I seen were probably all connected

[nerdmachine]

Very cool! I live in Utah and I knew the Aspens were all connected, but I didn't quite understand the scale. My neighbor has a few aspens in their backyard, and sometimes we get little aspen tree sprouts that try to pop up in our yard. We've been snipping them whenever they appear, but maybe one of these days we'll let one live. If its in a convenient place, that is.

[richterbalmont]

Hay anton there is also a gigant fungal growth that to my memory was the largest Armillaria ostoyae, or, as it's nicknamed, the Humongous Fungus.
It's an organism that covers 2, 385 acres (almost 4 square miles) of the Malheur National Forest in Oregon

[johnmc]

As always, Anton with the latest & greatest! Heck, last I knew the largest single organism was a giant fungus in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

[brianedwards]

As soon as you said there was overgrazing by deer I asked myself about the wolves. A fence is easier and cheaper than re-introduction but

[cameronperry]

I live near the mountains in Utah. Aspen trees are my absolute favorite. They’re especially beautiful in the fall.

[alasdair]

Mushrooms also have a common root structure (mycelium) which has only been discovered relatively recently. It's a fascinating evolutionary advantage as it's reliable and does not waste energy on the production of millions of seeds which are mostly wasted

[Tsuchimursu]

I love aspen. The rustling of their leaves in the slightest summer breeze is one of the nicest sounds I know. There is nothing like it.

[mewyattt]

If anyone ever makes it to Utah. Pando is located near Fish Lake. Its a beautiful area in Utah. Highly recommend enjoy!