2018
DOI: 10.1038/s41477-018-0170-5
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The demise of the largest and oldest African baobabs

Abstract: The African baobab is the biggest and longest-living angiosperm tree. By using radiocarbon dating we identified the stable architectures that enable baobabs to reach large sizes and great ages. We report that 9 of the 13 oldest and 5 of the 6 largest individuals have died, or at least their oldest parts/stems have collapsed and died, over the past 12 years; the cause of the mortalities is still unclear.

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Cited by 61 publications
(89 citation statements)
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“…Our assessment revealed that China's extremely old trees are of comparable age to the confirmed oldest trees in North America (4844 years old; Currey ), South America (3620 years old; Lara and Villalba ), Africa (2450 years old; Patrut et al . ), Amazonia (1400 years old; Chambers et al . ), and Europe (1229 years old; Piovesan et al .…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…Our assessment revealed that China's extremely old trees are of comparable age to the confirmed oldest trees in North America (4844 years old; Currey ), South America (3620 years old; Lara and Villalba ), Africa (2450 years old; Patrut et al . ), Amazonia (1400 years old; Chambers et al . ), and Europe (1229 years old; Piovesan et al .…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…However, the estimated ages of some ancient trees are not based on scientific dating such as dendrochronology. Currently, most dendrochronological studies focus on climate reconstruction (Cook et al 2010;Yang et al 2014), and few have sought to determine the age and location of extremely old trees (but see OLDLIST, Brown 1996;Patrut et al 2018;Piovesan et al 2018). Such information is increasingly important given that populations of large old trees are declining in many parts of the world due to climate change (including increased drought and altered fire regimes) and habitat fragmentation (Laurance et al 2000;Lindenmayer et al 2012;Bennett et al 2015).…”
Section: Front Ecol Environmentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…Continued global warming presents a potentially grim future for our planet, with rising sea levels, increased plant and animal loss, and eventual disruption to the ecosystem that is vital to support human life (Peltier and Tushingham 1989;Graham and Grimm 1990;Glynn 1991;Rubin et al 1992). Indeed, some argue that current events, such as the recent loss of the African baobabs (Patrut et al 2018), as well as the increased frequency of intense hurricanes (Holland and Bruyère 2014), are due, at least in part, to global warming.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%