Journal
ECOLOGY LETTERS
Volume 12, Issue 1, Pages 45-56Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2008.01259.x
Keywords
Angiosperm; decay; gymnosperm; lignin; wood density; woody debris
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The carbon flux from woody debris, a crucial uncertainty within global carbon-climate models, is simultaneously affected by climate, site environment and species-based variation in wood quality. In the first global analysis attempting to explicitly tease out the wood quality contribution to decomposition, we found support for our hypothesis that, under a common climate, interspecific differences in wood traits affect woody debris decomposition patterns. A meta-analysis of 36 studies from all forested continents revealed that nitrogen, phosphorus, and C : N ratio correlate with decomposition rates of angiosperms. In addition, gymnosperm wood consistently decomposes slower than angiosperm wood within common sites, a pattern that correlates with clear divergence in wood traits between the two groups. New empirical studies are needed to test whether this difference is due to a direct effect of wood trait variation on decomposer activity or an indirect effect of wood traits on decomposition microsite environment. The wood trait-decomposition results point to an important role for changes in the wood traits of dominant tree species as a driver of carbon cycling, with likely feedback to atmospheric CO2 particularly where angiosperm species replace gymnosperms regionally. Truly worldwide upscaling of our results will require further site-based multi-species wood trait and decomposition data, particularly from low-latitude ecosystems.
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