WASHINGTON (AP) – More than 3 trillion trees now grow on Earth, seven times more than scientists previously thought. But it’s also trillions fewer than there used to be, a new study concludes.
A United Nations-affiliated youth group had a goal of planting one billion trees and Yale forestry researcher Thomas Crowther was asked if planting that many trees would do anything to help combat human-made climate change. Trees capture and store heat-trapping carbon dioxide.
Crowther said first he had to figure out how many trees are on Earth and that number was far more than anyone expected: 3.04 trillion trees, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
The previous estimate was 400 billion trees and that rough count was based on satellite images peering down from space. Crowther and colleagues used 429,775 ground-based measurements along with satellite measurements and computer models to get a more accurate figure.
“These things really dominate our planet,” Crowther said. “They are the most prominent organisms on our planet and there are 3 trillion of them.”