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A new estimation suggestsChinais home to 142.6 billion tree , meaning the land has close to 100 trees per inhabitant .
These number are considerable , given how densely populate China is , an expert told Live Science . Still , the entire frame may be an underestimate due to the limitations of the engineering used to weigh the trees , the author of the new study say .
New research suggests there are about 100 trees per inhabitant in China.
" The actual number could be higher , " saidQinghua Guo , a professor in the Institute of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System at Peking University and the lead writer of the study . China’sNinth National Forest Resources Inventorycounted an average of 426 trees per acre ( 1,052 trees / hectare ) across the res publica in 2019 , which is much higher than the new study ’s approximation of 279 trees per acre ( 689 trees / hectare ) , Guo tell Live Science in an email .
The true number of trees could be somewhere in the middle , but more research is need to figure out what it is , he said .
An accurate appraisal of China ’s tree universe is crucial to appraise woods ecosystem conditions and the amount of carbon that is being locked away in Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , Guo said . He and his colleagues also produce a detailed map testify the statistical distribution of China ’s Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , which they say will help the country bump off its bionomical and climate target .
The researchers created a map showing the distribution and density of trees in China.
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" The survey map the first high - resolution map of tree denseness across China , " Guo said . " in the end , this research kick in to China ’s approach to planetary sustainable ecosystem management and restoration . "
To produce the estimate , the researchers used a optical maser - base single-valued function technique called lidar ( lite catching and ranging ) . The squad has been gather lidar data from drones since 2015 , amounting to an area covering 540 square miles ( 1,400 square kilometers ) .
For the unexampled study , the scientists counted the telephone number of tree diagram in this surface area using computer software called Lidar360 that incorporatesartificial intelligence(AI ) . They then extrapolated the resulting Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree density estimate to get a internal build , with the result print Feb. 6 in the journalScience Bulletin .
The technology is cutting - sharpness , but some feature film require ironing out , Guo said . For example , Lidar360 can not observe Tree growing below thick canopy . " In densely afforest areas , overlapping canopies embarrass the precise signal detection of mid - story and understory trees , head to lower - than - literal tree counts , " Guo said . incorporate tellurian lidar data and improving the software could put up more exact tree enumeration , he add together .
Despite sure limitations , the results broadly align with researcher ' previous intellect of China ’s tree universe , saidTom Crowther , an adjunct professor in the department of environmental scheme science at the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich . " Globally , there are stuffy to 400 trees per person , but in such a thickly populated region , it do common sense that this identification number is low , " Crowther , who was not involved in the study , separate Live Science in an electronic mail .
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China ’s tree universe may soon increase , however , because the land is plant seedlings at a dizzying charge per unit . Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree counts could rocket this leap asdrones are deployed to seed the " Great Green Wall " — a vast belt of tree in the north of China that is being implant to prevent the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts from expound . The Great Green Wall project — also eff as the Three - North Shelterbelt Forest Program — started in 1978 and is due to be completed in 2050 , by which point in time it could hold100 billion tree . The rampart is already the world ’s big sown woods withmore than 66 million Tree , but its success in staving off desertificationis debated .
The applied science used for the report not only help to bet and represent tree , but it could also optimize where China chooses to focus its tree - plant efforts .
" The fusion of high - preciseness information and intelligent models ensures that every tree can be plant in the most suitable localization , " Guo said .
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