In this invited commentary, Schmitz reviews the newly published research in Global Change Biology. Schmitz comments that Roberts et al. (2025) address this formidable challenge to reveal how varying abundance and outright loss of a large predator—the tiger (Panthera tigris)—and the abundance of its “deer” (i.e., ungulate) prey species are related to the capture and storage of carbon in forests across the tiger’s geographic range throughout Asia. The short answer to the question about the consequences of predator loss is that it mattered. Tiger presence was generally linked to higher vegetation carbon stocks and higher net carbon exchange among forest types. But the longer answer is that there was also nuance due to context-dependency.