Study Finds Many, Many More Trees Than Previously Thought
Even with billions of trees being cut down every year, a new study estimates there are seven-and-a-half times more trees on Earth than previously believed: 3.04 trillion, to be precise — or roughly 422 trees per person.
An international team of researchers used tree density information from forests around the world, satellite imagery and supercomputer computations to map tree populations worldwide at the square-kilometer level. The results were much higher than expected.
"Trees are among the most prominent and critical organisms on Earth, yet we are only recently beginning to comprehend their global extent and distribution," Thomas Crowther, a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and lead author of the study, said in a statement.