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Summary
The biggest trees, standing tall through storms and harsh winters, may look invincible. But a series of recent studies analyzing the effects of lightning, drought, and invasive pests on forests indicates that for trees, size is not strength, and forest giants are disproportionately vulnerable. With all three stresses likely to grow, big trees could become an even weaker point in beleaguered forests. Their loss may put entire ecosystems at risk of collapsing, research has suggested. Large trees are also major storehouses of carbon—one study from the 1990s found they account for about 50% of the carbon stored in forests—and their deaths release that carbon into the atmosphere, which could exacerbate climate change.
