How big is the world's largest plant? Which strain? Seeing such a problem, we may all think of those huge trees, such as the world-famous Hyperion tree, General Sherman tree, etc., some giant sequoia, fir, Eucalyptus and other trees can grow to a height of more than 100 meters, the diameter of the bottom is up to 10 meters, the volume of the tree can reach thousands of cubic meters, the weight is also more than 1,000 tons, but many friends know that the famous American "Austinella aureus" mushroom is larger, but a field expedition from Australia found, The largest plant in the world is probably a seagrass that grows on the west coast of Australia.
The base of the General Sherman tree
Posidonia seagrass
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported on June 1 that researchers in the country have found the world's largest known plant under the waters off the coast of Western Australia , a Bositian seagrass. Through several days of measurements and inspections, the expedition found that this Bositian seagrass covered about 180 square kilometers of shallow sea area on Australia's west coast and measured its age to exceed 4500 years.
The expedition personnel were originally going to carry out other aspects of the scientific expedition project, but after arriving here, they found a huge underwater grassland, and found that most of the growth in it was Posidonia seagrass, and this seagrass looked very similar, and then took a sample to test its genes, and found that the original seagrass leaves were actually from the same seagrass, or this 180 square kilometer underwater grassland, which was mainly a seagrass spread out, which was really surprising. Sinclair of the University of Western Australia, one of the researchers, said in an interview with ABC that "I was so surprised to look at the data that I never thought they were the same plant." ”
In addition, through genetic analysis and the diffusion distribution of seagrass, the researchers deduced that the seagrass was no less than 4500 years old, and that the seagrass plant "has been able to maintain its growth because it is environmentally friendly, can always grow and expand in a large area, and has basically not been disturbed by [the genes of other seagrass plants]", and believes that this plant is already "a beautiful World Heritage Site.". The relevant research results have been published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Posidonia seagrass is a kind of asexual propagation of seagrass, slender leaves are green, like the lush growth of grass in wetlands, which is mainly distributed in the Mediterranean region, the main stem and root of this aquatic plant are woody, very strong, and the growth ductility is also very strong, so it can grow countless seagrass leaves in thousands of years, and basically maintain the connection of the same seagrass individual.
The World's Longest-lived plant has been found to last up to 100,000 years, and biologists have deduced that the lifespan of the Seagrass can reach 200,000 years or more if the environment and conditions are suitable and the long term permits. The secret of its longevity lies in the characteristics of this marine angiosperm asexual reproduction, which can continue to spread through the continuous division of meristems, which replaces the role of reproduction.
A few years ago, Spanish and Portuguese biologists had discovered an 8-kilometer-long Bositian seagrass, while Carlos Duarte, a biologist at the Spanish National Research Council, had found that the seagrass, which was about 15 kilometers long, retained the same genes, and he said that the growth of this plant was very stable, because "the genetic preservation ability of The Positonerian seagrass is very strong and can resist any mutation." ”
This is also an advantage that its asexual reproduction characteristics have prompted it to evolve, but biologists have also found that its genes can automatically adapt to local environmental changes, and change the way of growth, in the nutrient-rich sea, its rhizome will spread very quickly and widely, the leaves will be large and wide; if the nutrients are scarce, then its growth will become very slow, the leaves will become more slender, maintaining the basic vitality of growth.
This Bositian seagrass is likely to be the largest known monobizoic individual in the world. We all know that the blue whale in the animals is large, but some giant trees are far larger in size and weight than the blue whale, and some banyan trees can expand very large, but before this Bositian seagrass was discovered, the world's largest creature was believed to be a "Honey Ring Fungus Austinii" mushroom located in Oregon, USA, and its underground hyphae spread about 9.6 square kilometers of local land, plus the mushroom fruiting body on the ground, this mushroom is believed to weigh thousands of tons, and for many years has been considered the world's largest biological individual.
But it is clear that the Poseidonian seagrass off the coast of Western Australia, which has spread 180 square kilometers of sea, is much larger than this mushroom, and its total weight may be more than 100,000 tons, which should be the largest known single organism in the world.
Resources:
"Guangming Network" June 1 article "The world's largest plant found on the coast of Australia: age or more than 4500, coverage of 180 km"