Many trees, few types

1999/11/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Botanika
• Ekologia

The oldest trees in the world are in danger of extinction. The conifers witnessed the dinosaurs and proliferated and proliferated ever since. In mesozoic, plants with flowers abandoned large forests and many species of conifers disappeared. At present, some types of conifers only survive through human cultivation. Most of the remaining species depend on isolated and easily fractured ecological balances, most in small and tropical latitudes. Although the forests of the north are large, very few are the species that form them.

On the other hand, the older conifers present the slower growths. It is intended to regenerate coniferous ecosystems that are reduced, but it is not an easy task, as for example the island of New Caledonia, in the Pacific, live 43 types of conifers that are not found anywhere else, on a soil very rich in metals and that are facing mining competition.

However, from a commercial point of view, the offer of conifers is also remarkable, as is the case of the Muela del Pacífico (Taxus brevifolia), in which a drug called taxol against cancer is extracted.