Updated

Updated · BBC Discover Wildlife · Aug 2

Western Australia Seagrass Clones Itself Across 77 Square Miles, Becoming Earth's Largest Plant

Updated

Updated · BBC Discover Wildlife · Aug 2

Western Australia Seagrass Clones Itself Across 77 Square Miles, Becoming Earth's Largest Plant

Q: What hidden biological ceiling strictly prevents the ocean's most massive leviathans from growing even larger?

Blue whales are thought to sit near a hard biological ceiling set by energy supply and body physiology: beyond a certain size, they could not take in enough food or move enough oxygen and blood through their bodies to support more mass. The ocean helps whales become giants because buoyancy reduces the crushing effects of gravity, and cold water favors large warm-blooded bodies that lose heat more slowly. Blue whales also evolved an unusually profitable feeding system, lunging through dense krill swarms and gaining far more energy from each mouthful than the dive and lunge cost. But that advantage has limits. As body size rises, energy demand also rises, and very large whales face increasing constraints in circulation, oxygen delivery and feeding efficiency. Researchers describe this as an energetic “sweet spot”: an animal can keep getting bigger only while energy intake comfortably exceeds energy costs. Evidence cited in the background material suggests blue whales may be close to that upper bound. Their bulk-feeding strategy works because krill occur in dense patches and because a giant body can process huge meals efficiently. Yet if the whale were substantially larger, the costs of powering its body, transporting oxygen, and finding enough prey would likely outstrip the gains. So the hidden ceiling is not a single organ or gene. It is the combined limit imposed by metabolism, blood-and-oxygen transport, and the amount of dense prey the ocean can provide.

Q: Could the ground beneath your feet secretly be a single, invisible organism that has been silently hunting for thousands of years?

Yes — in rare cases, the ground beneath you can be part of a single vast organism, though not one “hunting” in any conscious sense. The clearest example is Oregon’s giant honey fungus, Armillaria ostoyae, in Malheur National Forest. Scientists confirmed through DNA testing and colony-fusion studies that it is one genetic individual spread across about 2,385 acres, or nearly 9.6 square kilometres. Most of it is invisible underground as mycelium and black, root-like rhizomorphs. It kills slowly by invading tree roots and the cambium, then feeding on living and dead wood. Estimates put its age at roughly 2,400 to 8,650 years. So the idea is biologically real: a single organism can occupy a huge area beneath the surface while remaining mostly unseen. But this is not common beneath ordinary ground people walk on every day. It happens in particular ecosystems and is usually discovered only through careful scientific sampling. The broader lesson is that “largest living thing” depends on what scientists measure. In Western Australia, a single Posidonia australis seagrass clone covers about 77 square miles, making it the largest known plant. In Utah, Pando appears to be a forest but is actually one quaking aspen clone linked by one root system, with more than 47,000 trunks. These cases show that individuality in nature is not always obvious. What looks like many plants or separate patches can, under genetic testing, turn out to be one enormous, ancient life form.

1 articles · Updated · BBC Discover Wildlife · Aug 2

Shark Bay scientists found that a vast Posidonia australis meadow is not many plants but one clone spread across 77 square miles.
Genetic analysis showed the seagrass had replicated itself repeatedly, creating a single organism larger than the Caribbean island of Aruba.
The meadow supports fish, dugongs and turtles in Western Australia’s shallow waters, making the finding significant beyond its record size.
The discovery places the seagrass above other giant plants, while Earth’s largest single organism overall remains Oregon’s honey fungus, which covers 2,385 acres.

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BBC Discover Wildlife7d ago

Scientists Discover 77-Square-Mile Cloned Seagrass Plant in Western Australia

What hidden biological ceiling strictly prevents the ocean's most massive leviathans from growing even larger?

Could the ground beneath your feet secretly be a single, invisible organism that has been silently hunting for thousands of years?

Why are scientists using underwater microphones to listen to a dying forest before its ancient root system vanishes forever?

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1 total

BBC Discover Wildlife7d ago

Scientists Discover 77-Square-Mile Cloned Seagrass Plant in Western Australia

Western Australia Seagrass Clones Itself Across 77 Square Miles, Becoming Earth's Largest Plant

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