It took thousands of years for the Swedish spruce to “repeat”

Before and after the last ice age, the Christmas tree was a common feature of Swedish nature. But according to a new study from the University of Uppsala published in the journal Nature Communications, the “return” after a long cold winter was much harder than researchers first thought.

Previously, it was thought that spruce migrated from the north and reached southern Sweden 1,000 years ago. However, new research has concluded that spruce was already present when ice melted 14,000 years ago. The results were obtained by analyzing ancient DNA preserved in lake sediments.

“Although one of the first trees to appear was the spruce, these trees did not spread widely. It is surprising that early colonial plants generally had such an advantage,” said Kevin Nota, a research student at Uppsala. University and first teacher of research, in a press release.

Another finding is that the first shoots may have survived east of the snow edge. Previously, they were thought to have survived in the West.

“Swedish spruce seems to have enjoyed many attempts to capture forests in Scandinavia, but only the last expansion was successful,” says Laura Burduzi, a researcher at Uppsala University and one of the authors behind the study.