Botanists 'Rediscover' Extinct Oak Tree Specimen at Big Bend National Park in Texas

An oak tree species called Quercus tardifolia has been re-discovered at Big Bend National Park in Texas, according to reports on Thursday, July 7.

A coalition of botanical researchers from over 10 institutions made the discovery of the lone oak tree specimen, which has been thought to be extinct for several decades already.

Quercus tardifolia

Q. tardifolia was thought to have perished in 2011 after it was first described in the 1930s.

The oak species was found standing at a height of 30 feet but under poor condition.

Details of the unprecedented discovery was revealed by a news release of The Morton Arboretum, as relayed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

The scientists were aware of the need to implement an immediate need of conservation of the struggling oak tree.

North America Oak Trees

Oak trees have a strong presence in the forest lands of North America.

The natural material and wood structure of the tree species have been acknowledged and widely used for hundreds of manufactured forest products, according treehugger.com, an environmental sustainability website.

In the United States, oak trees are a symbol for all tree specimen and is recognized a so-called "state tree" by Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, and Georgia.

The famous oak is also the "official tree" of the country's capital city, according to the website.

The site also reported that some of the most common specimen out of the 70 oak species that grows into tree size across the sub-continent are the following:

• Red Oak
• White Oak
• Angel Oak
• Black Oak
• Pin Oak
• Northern Red Oak
• Southern Red Oak
• Chestnut Oak
• Bur Oak
• Oregon White Oak

Oak Trees Threatened

Various research in recent years showed that all oak species worldwide are threatened with extinction, mainly due to human-induced deforestation.

Scientists estimated that 31% or almost one-third of all species in the brink of annihilation.

This statistics is based on a 2020 report entitled the IUCN Red List Threat Assessments for Priority Tree Species, which were gathered by The Morton Arboretum and the Global Tree Specialist Group, a part of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Since 2015, The Morton Arboretum has partnered with the IUCN and the Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), along with experts from Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

A similar report under the project was first published in 2017, wherein the 2020 report served as an update.

Deforestation and Key Drivers

According to a press release by The Morton Arboretum, an outdoor museum based in Illinois, its researchers found that approximately 41% of the Earth's 430 oak species are under "conservation concern."

The Arboretum said that the countries with the highest number of threatened oak species are the following in chronological order:

• China (36 species)
• Mexico (32)
• Vietnam (20)
• US (16)

The museum added that global pattern analysis indicated that majority of the threat comes from disease, invasive pests, and climate change in the US.

Meanwhile, deforestation for the purpose of agriculture and urbanization are the main drivers in Southeast Asia.