The expression "Tough As Wood" has taken on new meaning, after scientists in Scandinavia reported that many of the trees in that area of the world are direct descendants of trees that inhabited those lands before the last Ice Age .... they had always thought the trees all migrated back in to the area 9,000 yrs or so ago.
The researchers came to this conclusion by studying the DNA of both the modern spruce (which distinctly show two Scandinavian types), and by analysing the composition of pine and spruce DNA contained in the sediments taken from lake-core samples from before the ice age.
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| Scandinavian Forests - Ice Age Survivors |
The researchers came to this conclusion by studying the DNA of both the modern spruce (which distinctly show two Scandinavian types), and by analysing the composition of pine and spruce DNA contained in the sediments taken from lake-core samples from before the ice age.
The exact mechanism for this amazing survival in the middle of the ice sheets for tens of thousands of years is not known, but its speculated that trees could have survived on nunataks (mountain tops and other bits of land sticking out above the miles of ice sheet), and then were able to spread once the ice retreated.
Nature never ceases to amaze in its abilities to survive the worst, but whether it can survive mankind is another matter.
Nature never ceases to amaze in its abilities to survive the worst, but whether it can survive mankind is another matter.
