Sub-continental-scale carbon stocks of individual trees in African drylands.

ABSTRACT: The distribution of dryland trees and their density, cover, size, mass and carbon content are not well known at sub-continental to continental scales^1-14. This information is important for ecological protection, carbon accounting, climate mitigation and restoration efforts of dryland ecosystems^15-18. We assessed more than 9.9 billion trees derived from more than 300,000 satellite images, covering semi-arid sub-Saharan Africa north of the Equator. We attributed wood, foliage and root carbon to every tree in the 0-1,000 mm year^-1 rainfall zone by coupling field data¹⁹, machine learning^20-22, satellite data and high-performance computing. Average carbon stocks of individual trees ranged from 0.54 Mg C ha^-1 and 63 kg C tree

SUBMITTER: Tucker C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9977681 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature