Taiwan's giant trees store massive carbon but face extinction risk from typhoons and landslides

A team of Taiwanese forest surveyors discovered Asia's tallest tree, an 84.1 meter Taiwan fir, in Shei-Pa National Park. They found that old-growth forests in Taiwan's remote mountains store up to 1,324 tonnes of carbon per hectare, among the highest densities globally. However, 5 percent of the 941 giant trees identified have died from typhoons and landslides over the past decade, putting these vital carbon sinks at risk of extinction within two centuries if trends continue. The group used LiDAR and crowdsourced citizen science to identify and measure these trees. Their findings highlight the need to protect these ancient forests not just for biodiversity but for their outsized role in carbon sequestration. The data, published in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, underscores how natural disturbances can undermine natural climate solutions if left unaddressed.