Mysterious 'ghost trees' in American forests that don't need photosynthesis.

The secret to the albino "ghost tree" surviving without photosynthesis in the forests of California, USA, has been a major question for scientists for a century.

An albino rosewood tree in a California forest. Photo: Outside Online.

An albino redwood tree in a coastal forest in California, USA, has been dubbed a "ghost tree" because of the unusual color of its trunk. This type of tree lacks chlorophyll, the green pigment that helps trees photosynthesize from sunlight. "This tree should have died, but it survives like a ghost," commented biologist Zane Moore, a doctoral student at the University of California, Davis.

The mystery of the albino redwood tree has puzzled researchers for over a century. The tree is so ethereal that, without a close look, many might doubt its existence. However, Moore suggests there is a scientific explanation for the tree's existence, as well as that of the entire forest.

Previously, almost no scientist had been able to study albino rosewood trees. Albino trees are extremely rare. According to Moore's latest records, the number of albino trees in the world is only 406. The tree's genome has 32 billion base pairs compared to 3.2 billion in humans, and each chromosome has 6 copies instead of two. Researchers have not yet been able to sequence the rosewood genome and have not found the type of mutation that causes the tree to be albino.

Rosewood trees can self-replicate. Plants in close proximity communicate through their root systems. During the harsh winter and early spring months, they share nutrients equally. Scientists poured dye onto plants at one end of the grove and tracked the dye spreading through the root network to the other end.

This partnership only lasts until summer. After that, each tree, branch, and bud must survive on its own. Trees unable to photosynthesize are removed from the nutrient-sharing system through their roots and die in the fall. Moore studied how albino rosewood trees benefit from the system by drawing on sugars produced by healthy trees around them. "Many people consider albino rosewood trees to be parasitic and even call them 'vampire trees.' However, rosewood trees survive in a much more intelligent way," Moore said.

Moore and his colleague, tree expert Tom Stapleton, decided to document the location of each albino rosewood tree they observed. Their maps showed that albino trees often grew in areas with unfavorable conditions and environmental stress that could promote mutations. Moore then sought to collect specimens from the albino trees and healthy neighboring trees along the California coast.

Moore discovered that the leaves of albino trees were filled with a mixture of cadmium, copper, and nickel. On average, each white needle-like leaf contained twice the amount of toxic heavy metals as a green needle-like leaf in a normal tree. Moore suggested the problem lay in the stomata, the pores that allow the tree to absorb water. The tree, losing water rapidly, was forced to absorb more, meaning albino trees had twice as much heavy metal-laden water flowing through their trunks as healthy trees.

"It appears that the albino plants are absorbing heavy metals from the soil. They are poisoning themselves," Moore said.

Moore examined the most toxic albino redwood trees, noting that the nickel levels in their leaves were 10 times higher than those of healthy trees. In a report expected to be published next year, Moore concluded that albino redwood trees have a symbiotic relationship with their own kind. They act as storage for toxins in exchange for the sugars necessary for survival.

Moore plans to study this phenomenon further. His next experiment involves injecting nickel into both green-leaved and albino rosewood trees grown in the lab to see if the trees growing alongside the albino ones thrive better. He also wants to test whether the heavy metals in the albino trees remain in the tree or leach back into the soil. If the hypothesis proves correct, Moore hopes that in the future he can plant albino rosewood trees in polluted areas to make the soil safer for other plant species.

According to VNE