Do trees die from old age? how and why?
In: Biology
Trees do not age like animals do. They tend to keep growing as much as their resources (and physics) allow it.
When the limit for height is reached, they still can get wider. We know of trees that are thousands of years old and do not seem to have experienced any kind of deterioration due to age.
So no, trees dont really die of old age
A tree dies because it will grow so large it cant support its own physiology any longer. Sometimes they become so large they simply break, sometimes they become so large they have difficulty providing enough nutrients to support the large trunk so they become stressed enough to succumb to some secondary disease or fungus.
Some trees this process takes a few decades, some thousands of years.
Trees have indefinite growth which means they grow throughout their life continuously.
Trees, as they grow, produce a lot of dead, lignified cells that provide support to the tree and protection to its heart; the main vessels that carry water at the very centre. They don’t die of old age, because they dont become old, they’re kind of eternal.
Unless ofcourse someone chops them down for the sake of civilization, or wood boreing insects or fungi get past the protective barrier and wreak havoc on relatively tender life force of the tree. That is hard to do, but not impossible, so yeah that can make a tree die.
Yes, trees have a lifespan. Most are around a century. A balsa tree, for example, has a lifespan of about 30-40 years. They die because their cells cannot repair normal damage to its vascular system quickly enough. That is why if you see a dying tree (trees take years to die) they will look kinda dead but then have new growth leaves year over year. Eventually, even those stop and the tree is dead *dead.* If you are out west, like I am, you want to cut it down when it starts to die. A dying / dead tree is a fire hazard.
A lot of people on this thread are mistaking *continuous growth* for immortality, yes they continue to grow (it is how the vascular system of a tree works) but they also die after a number of years. Trees are not immortal, they will die after ageing. In fact, in many communities where trees aren’t native, the original trees planted when the community was formed (Think Fort Collins in CO) and popularized are now starting to die in large numbers because they are reaching their typical lifespan.
Even people don’t really die of *old age*, rather, conditions that come from old age. Trees are no different.
New studies showed that some trees might be immortal if not by accident. Some spécimens are 6000 to 8000 yo.
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