Posted on 09/02/2015 11:23:33 AM PDT by BenLurkin
There are just over three trillion trees in the world, a figure that dwarfs previous estimates, according to the most comprehensive census yet of global forestation.
Using satellite imagery as well as ground-based measurements from around the world, a team led by researchers at Yale University created the first globally comprehensive map of tree density. Their findings were published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.
A previous study that drew on satellite imagery estimated that the total number of trees was around 400 billion. The new estimate of 3.04 trillion is multiple times that number, bringing the ratio of trees per person to 422 to 1.
While the density of foliage was surprisingly high overall, the researchers cautioned that global vegetation is still in decline. The number of trees on Earth has fallen by 46% since the beginning of human civilization, according to the report. The researchers said they believed the findings would provide a valuable baseline for future research on environment and ecosystems.
“The previous information that we had about the global forest system all came from satellite images...we’re using all this information to provide more detailed understanding of what’s going on below the surface [of the canopy],” said Thomas Crowther, a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and the lead author of the study. “The numbers that we’ve generated are going to be useful for a wide variety of applications.”
The map was generated using 429,775 ground-based measurements in more than 50 countries, collected from a variety of sources, including the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the National Forest Inventory and several peer-reviewed studies, said Henry Glick, co-director of the Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative, a research program within the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
....three trillion trees yet there are numbnuts who will sit in a tree to protest because it will be cut down.
And here is the Daily Mail with an article saying that we are destroying 15 billion trees a year.
And how does anyone know how many trees have grown since or before human civilization came about.
3 trillion divided by 15 billion = never run out as trees grow back.
“We’ve nearly halved the number of trees on the planet, and we’ve seen the impacts on climate and human health as a result,” Crowther said. “This study highlights how much more effort is needed if we are to restore healthy forests worldwide.”
http://phys.org/news/2015-09-trees-previously-believed.html
Oh my gosh, “trees grow back?” I never knew that. I was taught in the guvmint skools that trees were too valuable to be used because once they were cut down, the land was paved over or let to erode into great canyons. Gee, does the guvmint know that trees grow back? Somebody ought to tell them and they can spend a billion dollar study to see if it is actually true.
I think this is a SWAG (Scientific Wild-Ass Guess).
UMMM....Trees respirate CO2. They aspirate oxygen.
Yep, sometimes I post without my brain even engaging. It happens.
No foul.
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One would think that this is another demonstration why the climate models are wrong.
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