Researchers from the Institute of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System at Peking University estimated China's tree population to 142.6 billion trees, meaning the country has roughly 100 trees per inhabitant. An accurate estimate of China's tree population is crucial to evaluating forest ecosystem conditions and the amount of carbon that is being locked away in trees.
To produce the estimate, the researchers used a laser-based mapping technique called lidar (light detection and ranging). The team has been collecting lidar data from drones since 2015, amounting to an area covering 540 square miles (1,400 square kilometers). For the new study, scientists counted the number of trees in this area using software called Lidar360 that incorporates artificial intelligence.
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