Listen to the sounds of Pando, the largest living tree in the world

By Jennifer Nalewicki published about 5 hours ago
Researchers are using sound to study Pando, the world's largest tree.



Pando stretches across more than 100 acres in Utah and is considered the world's largest tree. (Image credit: Jim Rice)

Researchers have recorded the sounds of the world's largest tree, a 13-million-pound (6 million kilograms) behemoth known as Pando that stretches across 106 acres (43 hectares) in southern Utah. The researchers think that listening to the recordings could give them a better understanding of the sprawling aspen’s health and any environmental changes that might affect it.

To the untrained eye, Pando resembles a forest made up of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) trees. However, it's actually a single clone comprising approximately 40,000 genetically identical stems (trunks) that are interconnected by a complex root system.

Last summer, Jeff Rice, a Seattle-based audio engineer, traveled to Pando, whose name means "I spread" in Latin. Using a hydrophone (a microphone normally used to pick up sounds underwater), he began recording the rustling of Pando's leaves in the wind, birds chirping in the canopy and critters scampering around — but he soon wanted to hear what was going on underground.

"There is this beautiful interconnectedness of Pando itself," Rice, who presented his recordings on May 10 at the 184th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, told Live Science. "Its sounds are so many different elements, but there's also this rich underground soundscape. There's more than just the trembling of the leaves. I started to discover that there was a lot going on there."

More:
https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/plants/listen-to-the-sounds-of-pando-the-largest-living-tree-in-the-world