The tree as a historian – NRC

It’s a windswept island, one of the most isolated places on earth. Campbell Island, a rugged spot in the Southern Ocean between New Zealand and Antarctica. According Guinness World Records 2023 „the furthest treealso called “the loneliest tree in the world”. This is Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis), makes it an exotic species, originating from trees in Alaska.

Guinness calls the tree “solitary” because its nearest congener is 250 km away in the Auckland Islands. Tree enthusiasts and scientists from all over the world come here to see the spruce just nine meters tall. It is oddly shaped, widely projecting and not slender. Apparently, year after year, scientists have removed the top to serve as a Christmas tree. The tree is also ravaged by the wind in the harsh climate.

giant flowers

Recently, the tree has become world news. Not because it feels so lonely there, as it is surrounded by rich flora and fauna, ranging from colorful herbaceous giant flowers (megaherbs) to sea lions and albatrosses. No, New Zealand researchers have found the tree ‘may reveal secrets about CO storage’₂ in the Southern Ocean”, as The Guardian reports .

The age of the tree has been established at over a hundred years, it was planted around 1900 by Lord Ranfurly, then Governor of New Zealand. This is why the tree is also called Ranfurly tree. Until 1973, the Sitka spruce competed for being the most isolated tree from the Ténéré tree, an acacia from the Niger desert. This was also called lost tree, the lost tree, because no other tree grew within 400 kilometers. It was considered a place of pilgrimage and a landmark for caravans in the desert, until a drunken truck driver felled this tree.

How could this century-old lone tree on Campbell Island solve climate problems?

How could this century-old lone tree on Campbell Island solve climate problems? Quite simply, says Antarctic scientist Jocelyn Turnbull from New Zealand: “If you look at the growth rings, you can find out how much carbon is stored there. Because the Southern Ocean is not just CO₂ absorbs but also restores, this return can be read in the tree by taking a “carrot”, with a drill deeply inserted in the trunk. This way you can understand how fast it happens.

“Big Thrill”

Another scientist, Australian biologist Jonathan Palmer, considers the tree to be “a chronicler, a historian of human involvement in the earth”. In an email, he says it was “a great feeling to see the tree for the first time”. It was in 2013. The search on the tree is a search in time. What makes it so fascinating is how strongly it survives in the strange southern hemisphere. So a newcomer. A solitary tree and so many stories.