Thousand years old and 20 storeys high: tracking down Taiwan's tallest trees

Taiwan’s tallest trees are proving that extreme height can be a driver of biodiversity and climate resilience. After more than a decade mapping and measuring forests, Dr. Rebecca Hsu of the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute reported this month a study in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change identifying Taiwania cryptomerioides reaching 84.1 metres, dubbed “Heaven Sword of the Da’an River.” The tree is a conifer with a straight trunk and is believed to be around 1,000 years old, surpassing the height of an average 20-storey building. The article compares global records, noting California’s coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) reaches 116 metres. Researchers and conservation experts say tall trees function as “engines for biodiversity,” creating habitat layers within their canopies. However, wildfire, global heating, drought and changing cloud patterns threaten them, with Taiwan researchers estimating tall-tree death rates of about 4% to 5% over the past decade.