Victoria’s mountain ash forests could lose a quarter of giant trees as temperatures rise

Victoria’s mountain ash forests are expected to lose a quarter of their trees in coming decades as the world heats up, a University of Melbourne study finds. Photograph: Ben Wagner, University of Melbourne

Victoria’s mountain ash forests are thinning rapidly as the globe heats up, and could lose a quarter of their “giant” trees that grow up to 80m tall in the coming decades, research has found.

Forests of Eucalyptus regnans – one of the tallest tree species in the world – lose about 9% of their trees for every degree of warming, according to a University of Melbourne-led study published in Nature Communications.