What is believed to be the oldest white oak tree in the country is dying

BERNARDS — What is believed to be the oldest white oak tree in the country, one that has called Basking Ridge home for more than 600 years, may have dropped it's last leaves

Old Oak Tree[edit]

600 year-old "Holy Oak", June 2016

In the historical graveyard of the church stands a White Oak, sometimes called the "Holy Oak".^[4] It is 600 years old, possibly the oldest white oak in the world.^[4] It is nearly 100 feet (30 m) tall and has a spread of more than 130 feet (40 m).^[5] It has a trunk circumference of 20 feet (6.1 m) and its lower branches are supported.

English evangelist George Whitfield and American clergyman James Davenport, preached under the tree on November 5, 1740 to a crowd of 3,000, in the First Great Awakening.^[3][5]

George Washington's troops were drilled on the village green, within view, and G.W. picnicked under the tree with the Marquis de LaFayette.^[5]

The 5,500 French troops of Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeaumarched by in 1781, on their route to Yorktown, Virginia and the decisive battle of theAmerican Revolutionary War.^[5]

In 2016, the tree is "failing to thrive"^[5] and shows signs of distress as its upper parts failed to sprout leaves.^[4]

Jon Klippel, a member of the church's Planning Council, said Tuesday that residents were hoping the treasured tree would spring to life once the weather warmed, but it hasn't.

"It has put out leaves in its lower portion this spring, but its upper portion, the crown of the tree, has not put out new leaves," said Klippel. "An oak tree tends to hold onto its leaves through the winter and then a growth spurt will push off the older leaves early in the spring. Read more 

The longest lived vertebrate takes the title by at least a century

Imagine having to wait a century to have sex. Such is the life of the Greenland shark—a 5-meter-long predator that may live more than 400 years, according to a new study, making it the longest lived vertebrate by at least a century. So it should come as no surprise that the females are not ready to reproduce until after they hit their 156th birthday.

The longevity of these sharks is “astonishing,” says Michael Oellermann, a cold-water physiologist at Loligo Systems in Viborg, Denmark, who was not involved with the work. That’s particularly true because oceans are quite dangerous places, he notes, where predators, food scarcity, and disease can strike at any time.

Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus) had been rumored to be long-lived. In the 1930s, a fisheries biologist in Greenland tagged more than 400, only to discover that the sharks grow only about 1 centimeter a year—a sure sign that they’re in it for the long haul given how large they get. Yet scientists had been unable to figure out just how many years the sharks last.

Intrigued, marine biologist John Steffensen at the University of Copenhagen collected a piece of backbone from a  Greenland shark captured in the North Atlantic, hoping it would have growth rings he could count to age the animal. He found none, so he consulted Jan Heinemeier, an expert in radiocarbon dating at Aarhus University in Denmark. Heinemeier suggested using the shark’s eye lenses instead. His aim was not to count growth rings, but instead to measure the various forms of carbon in the lenses, which can give clues to an animal’s age.

Then came the hard part.

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By Elizabeth Pennisi

From the Author" Happy 4th

This weekend we celebrate the 4th of July, Independence Day.
Many of our ancestors came to this country to escape intolerance. My grandparents immigrated fro Germany/Austria and Hungry to escape politically sanctioned riots against their beliefs.
My hope is we as a nation may remember why our ancestors came to this country and we may learn to be tolerant of others beliefs.

Recycling History