Something silent and sinister is happening in Australia’s mountain ash forests. As temperatures rise, these ecosystems are slowly, steadily losing their trees – and with them, their ability to store carbon.
Mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans) forests in southeastern Australia can store from 415 to 819 tonnes of carbon per hectare. That’s more per hectare than the Amazon rainforest. So the decline of these special trees, the tallest flowering plants on Earth, is a major concern – for the forests and the climate system as a whole.
