Not a good sign

[martinw-48]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-07/centuries-old-australian-native-trees-dying/11282364?pfmredir...

[springyzone]

My first question (which I am having trouble answering, even with the help of google) is how long do sandalwood trees normally live for?

The life span of different trees seems to vary very widely and those trees, if they were already a couple of centuries old, might have been towards the end of their span. I don't know. I can find all sorts of sites that show how to grow them or what they are used for, but nothing to say how long they normally live.

The second thing I found out, while trying unsuccessfully to discover their average life span, was that these trees can't survive without another host tree right near them. Something like an acacia or casuarina.

So if the host trees die and there isn't another nearby, then the sandalwood tree will probably die too.

[not_for_sale2025]

I did a little search and found the following:

http://www.softschools.com/facts/plants/sandalwood_facts/1977/

The final fact states they can live for more than 80 years in the wild. It is interesting that they become ready to harvest when 30 - 60 years old. The Sandalwood certainly performs at her peak during mid - old age.

Otherwise, I couldn't find anything else either.

[bidicus*maximus]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santalum_album

[springyzone]

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@not_for_sale2025 wrote:

I did a little search and found the following:

http://www.softschools.com/facts/plants/sandalwood_facts/1977/

The final fact states they can live for more than 80 years in the wild. It is interesting that they become ready to harvest when 30 - 60 years old. The Sandalwood certainly performs at her peak during mid - old age.

Otherwise, I couldn't find anything else either.

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Just like some of us, then.

Thanks, Bidicus.

That article says about 100 years is the life span. If that applies to the ones in the original article, then they did extremely well to make it to 200 years or more. The drought might have been the final thing that finished them off but they may have been dying, anyway.

[springyzone]

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@not_for_sale2025 wrote:

Otherwise, I couldn't find anything else either.

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Off topic but can I just say, I am glad there is someone else this happens to as well!

I watch all these shows on TV and if they want to find out some fact or other, they type it into a computer and lo and behold, the exact answer is there on the screen within a second or two, no matter how obscure the question.

[martinw-48]

It's not just Sandlewood trees but let's just pass it off as completely natural.
It wouldn't be a problem if there were new seedlings to take over but in the case of the Sandlewood there aren't.
Nothing will happen until they're all dead and it'll be too late.

[springyzone]

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@martinw-48 wrote:
It's not just Sandlewood trees but let's just pass it off as completely natural.
It wouldn't be a problem if there were new seedlings to take over but in the case of the Sandlewood there aren't.
Nothing will happen until they're all dead and it'll be too late.

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With the sandalwood trees, they are a threatened species (so it says in the article) because they are harvested so extensively.

I think climate change might be something we can do a few things about but basically not a lot.

There are probably too many people in the world. That's the real problem that needs addressing. And it isn't the more affluent countries that are causing population growth now. Most of them are near zero population growth.

As poorer countries become more affluent, with a bigger middle class, they will want a higher standard of living and all the extras that go with it.

That's the real challenge for the future.

But as far as climate change goes, the world has never been stable, climate is always changing, just so slowly we don't usually notice in a human lifetime.

We can do our bit to have less of an impact on our environment. And we should. But in the long run, if things warm up, we're going to have to adapt to that.

[martinw-48]

Ever played Kerplunk?
We might be able to make some adaptations but if we lose too many species

[myoclon1cjerk]

We can adapt. We're very good at that. The problem is most of the species we share this planet with, flora and fauna, can't.