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Modeling decay rates of dead wood in a neotropical forest

Authors :
Jacques Beauchêne
Jean-Michel Martin
Félix Muller
Christopher Baraloto
Fabien Wagner
Lilian Blanc
Bruno Hérault
Ecologie des forêts de Guyane (ECOFOG)
Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université des Antilles et de la Guyane (UAG)-AgroParisTech-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Source :
Oecologia, Oecologia, Springer Verlag, 2010, 164 (1), pp.243-251. ⟨10.1007/s00442-010-1602-8⟩
Publication Year :
2010
Publisher :
Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2010.

Abstract

International audience; Variation of dead wood decay rates among tropical trees remains one source of uncertainty in global models of the carbon cycle. Taking advantage of a broad forest plot network surveyed for tree mortality over a 23-year period, we measured the remaining fraction of boles from 367 dead trees from 26 neotropical species widely varying in wood density (0.23–1.24 g cm-3) and tree circumference at death time (31.5–272.0 cm). We modeled decay rates within a Bayesian framework assuming a first order differential equation to model the decomposition process and tested for the effects of forest management (selective logging vs. unexploited), of mode of death (standing vs. downed) and of topographical levels (bottomlands vs. hillsides vs. hilltops) on wood decay rates. The general decay model predicts the observed remaining fraction of dead wood (R2 = 60%) with only two biological predictors: tree circumference at death time and wood specific density. Neither selective logging nor local topography had a differential effect on wood decay rates. Including the mode of death into the model revealed thatstanding dead trees decomposed faster than downed dead trees, but the gain of model accuracy remains rather marginal. Overall, these results suggest that the release of carbon from tropical dead trees to the atmosphere can be simply estimated using tree circumference at death time and wood density.

Details

ISSN :
14321939 and 00298549
Volume :
164
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Oecologia
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....468d06ce72faa43b30d5f1189ad6e5f0
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-010-1602-8