Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, August 13 (Xinhua) Southern Tibetan cypress is a plant endemic to China. It grows in the valley of the tributaries of the Brahmaputra River and has an amazing height and a long history. Recently, the Chinese giant tree research team found two southern Tibetan cypress trees over 90 meters in Yigong Township, Bomi County, Xizang, and released their body photos and related data for the first time. These giant trees are not only natural wonders, but also treasures of biodiversity, worthy of our protection and research.

In May 2023, a joint investigation team led by Peking University, using lidar technology, found and measured a 102.3-meter-high Xizang cypress in Tongmai, Bomi County, setting a new record for the tallest tree in Asia, CCTV News reported.

In order to investigate the distribution of giant tree communities, in June, the Chinese giant tree scientific research team went into Bomi Yigong Township and its surrounding area of 15 hectares of primeval forest, and completed a community background survey of 10,000 square meters. The scientists climbed the tree to reach the canopy, systematically completed the scientific research on the crown layer of two giant trees, and collected plant specimens and germplasm resources of the giant tree community.

The survey found that the giant tree population in this area has rich height levels: over 80m giant trees are not completely counted for more than 260m, 90m giant trees for 25, according to the living body height of a 100m giant tree, that is, southern Tibetan cypress Ⅰ, living height is 101.2 meters, followed by southern Tibetan cypress Ⅱ, living height is 99.5m. On August 13, 2023, the scientific research team released the equal body photos and related data of the two giant trees.

Experts infer from the ratio of DBH to annual rings that the age of southern Tibetan cypress Ⅰ is about 1450 years old, and the DBH of southern Tibetan cypress Ⅱ is about 1400 years old and 288cm.

△ southern Tibetan cypress Ⅰ tree and other body photos

According to △, southern Tibetan cypress Ⅱ and other members of the scientific research team, Xizang cypress, which was previously measured at 102.3 meters, was identified as southern Tibetan cypress (Cupressus austrotibetica) through on-the-spot collection and literature comparison, and its historical height (including trunk withered branches) is 102.3 meters, equivalent to 36 stories high. The living height (from the base of the trunk to the top of the surviving branch) is 101.2 meters. According to the existing measurements, its living height of 101.2 meters is still the second tallest tree species in the world and the tallest tree in Asia.

CTOnews.com noted that in addition to measuring the height and DBH of the giant tree, the research team also conducted a detailed survey of the canopy of the giant tree. They found that at the height of 50 meters and above, the epiphytes of giant trees became more and more abundant and dense, up to the top of the treetops. Epiphytes are plants that do not depend on soil for growth. They use the branches of giant trees as support to obtain water and nutrients from the air and Rain Water. They will not cause harm to the giant tree, but increase its beauty and vitality. The scientific research team found a total of 46 species of epiphytes in the canopy of the giant tree Ⅱ, including more than 6 species of orchids, including suspected new species of Cymbidium and Cymbidium. In addition to plants, the canopy of giant trees is also home to many animals. The scientific research team found red red mountain pepper birds, red-winged babblers and other birds active in the canopy, as well as more than a dozen kinds of insects such as wheat color arm golden turtles. These animals live in harmony with giant trees to form a small ecosystem.

Giant tree is one of the biomarkers of rainforest. Botanists generally call trees more than 70 meters as giant trees. The ultimate height of a tree depends on two conditions: the mechanical strength of the trunk and the height at which water can be reached by the tree's transpiration, so the giant tree also has an "limit". The tallest trees in the world, more than 80 meters, all live in areas with heavy rainfall, plenty of water vapor and a relatively mild climate.

Giant trees and other body photos are to eliminate the perspective interference of large and small, and bring the immovable giant trees relatively clear and real to the eyes of the audience, in order to achieve the comparison and experience of the proportion of characters and giant trees. This kind of shooting often takes half a month or even a month before 2019, and with the continuous improvement of UAV technology, the problem has been solved by using UAV vertical up and down loop shooting, plus post-processing of hundreds of photos. In this comprehensive scientific research, each giant tree shot an average of 1500 to 1700 pieces of material, and completed the equivalent photo shooting of southern Tibetan cypress (Ⅰ and Ⅱ), of which the shooting accuracy of Ⅱ tree was more than 5.5 billion pixels.

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