Re-evaluation of forest biomass carbon stocks and lessons from the world's most carbon-dense forests

From analysis of published global site biomass data ( n = 136) from primary forests, we discovered ( i ) the world's highest known total biomass carbon density (living plus dead) of 1,867 tonnes carbon per ha (average value from 13 sites) occurs in Australian temperate moist Eucalyptus regnans forests, and ( ii ) average values of the global site biomass data were higher for sampled temperate moist forests ( n = 44) than for sampled tropical ( n = 36) and boreal ( n = 52) forests ( n is number of sites per forest biome). Spatially averaged Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change biome default values are lower than our average site values for temperate moist forests, because the temperate biome contains a…