The Oldest Ecosystems on Earth
Within 10 minutes of entering the Hoh Rainforest in Washington State, I began to understand why this place was so beloved. As one of the largest old-growth temperate rainforests in the world, the Hoh did not merely look different than its younger neighbors—it felt different. Inside its borders, air seemed to stand still. Light took on a chlorophyllic hue. And the scent of wet earth and lush vegetation pooled around me.
Soon I was ensconced in enchanted groves and hallowed hollows steeped in every possible shade of green and so lavishly pillowed with moss that I could not find a speck of bare bark. I encountered ancient bigleaf maples whose contorted bodies formed living archways and Douglas firs so wide and tall that I struggled to capture their scale on camera. Doused in 12 to 14 feet of rain every year, and long protected from logging, the Hoh is home to trees that stand more than 200 feet tall and have lived for centuries. Some pockets of the forest possessed such a primeval atmosphere that they might have been plucked from the Jurassic.
When it comes to biological superlatives, we typically focus on individuals: The largest tree in a forest, the oldest organism on the planet. After visiting the Hoh Rainforest, however, I began to wonder about superlative communities. What are the oldest existing ecosystems on Earth, and what can we learn from them?
How, exactly, do we determine when an ecosystem was born, or when it dies?
Like the Hoh, some old-growth forests have survived for centuries. But it turns out that certain ecosystems and biomes on the of years, preserving, somehow, their defining characteristics despite undergoing major changes.
