4,851-Year-Old Tree in California Reflects Nature's Resourcefulness for Long Life

The nearly 5,000-year-old Methuselah bristlecone pine tree shows the possibility of long life and aging, and together with the oldest organisms on Earth, it shows life's resilience and resourcefulness. The tree can be found in the White Mountains in California. A recent report states that the bristlecone pine will turn 4,851 years old this year.

The Oldest Organisms on Earth?

Last week, researchers also announced their discovery of beds of kelp found just off Shetland as well as in French and Irish Atlantic waters, which has lived for 16 millennia. After one day, an international research team reported reviving microbes that had been dormant in sea mud for a hundred million years.

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Varying Lifespans

Lifespans of organisms differ widely on Earth. Mayflies only have over 24 hours to live as adults, while freshwater hydra can regenerate their tissues and are virtually immortal. Fruit flies only have a two-week lifespan, while a giant tortoise has been known to live up to 188 years and counting, in Saint Helena Island.

One of the reasons scientists believe that lifespans vary so much is because prey usually have shorter lives as compared to predators despite similar body weights.

A striking example shows the lifespans of the bat and the mouse. Both of them are small mammalians with widely different lifespans. The mouse can survive from one to three years, in the wild or as a pet. Contrastingly, most bat species can reach 30 years old and even 50 years for some species.

According to Lancaster University's David Clancy, the wings of the bats spell the difference, as they enable them to escape many predators. Meanwhile, mice can be preyed upon by many different predators on land. Bats can easily fly away from a lot of dangers.

DNA Programming Spells the Difference

Additionally, Clancy says that even if they have no predators, the lifespan of mice will still only probably be a tenth of the bat's, because their internal programming, including processes such as DNA repair, underpins the differences in their life expectancies.

According to Newcastle University aging expert Professor Tom Kirkwood, the internal processes of mice do not invest too much in maintaining its cells. It sees no point in doing so because it will not be living for long anyway. It does not bother to keep its cells in good condition because it may inevitably die within a year.

Cell maintenance can be very costly, using up a lot of internal resources of energy. An animal provides for it just enough for its life expectancy. Kirkwood says that the mouse instead unconsciously ensures the survival of its species by having many offspring in the shortest time possible.

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Disposable Soma Aging Theory

If it happens to evolve wings, however, it will start the evolutionary process of changing its cell repair systems, gradually developing a better cell maintenance system over many generations. This will result in a species of mouse that lives much longer.

This is called the disposable soma aging theory, and Kirkwood says this is demonstrated in nature. The same has been seen in the comparative evolution of humans and chimps.

According to Clancy, this shows how organisms do not evolve just to die but to survive. While the very first Earth organisms may have had only short lifespans, with new niches, life expectancies gradually varied to what they are today. This resulted in differing lifespans of various creatures on the planet.

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