Differences between standing and downed dead tree wood density reduction factors : a comparison across decay classes and tree species / Mark E. Harmon [and others].

Format:

Book

Government document

Contributor:

Harmon, Mark E.

United States. Forest Service. Northern Research Station

Series:

Research paper NRS ; 15.

Research paper NRS ; 15

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Coarse woody debris.

Wood--Deterioration.

Wood.

Dead trees.

Physical Description:

1 online resource ([ii], 40 pages) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Newtown Square, PA : U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station, [2011]

Summary:

Woody detritus or dead wood is an important part of forest ecosystems and has now become a routine facet of forest monitoring and inventory. Biomass and carbon estimates of dead wood depend on knowledge of species- and decay class-specific density or density reduction factors. While some progress has been made in determining these parameters for dead and downed trees (DD), there are very few estimates of these key parameters for standing dead trees (SD). In this study we evaluated indicators of decay to relate subjective SD and DD decay classifications then compared SD and DD density and density reduction factors by decay class for a total of 19 tree species at nine sites in the United States and Russia. A set of preliminary decay reduction factors for SD trees by species and decay class was developed for tree species inventoried by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program. Results indicate that SD density declined with decay class for all examined species. For six of the examined species, SD tree density could be assumed equal to that of DD tree density. The most common situation (13 species) was for SD density to be higher than for DD density. The likely cause of these differences was the drier microenvironment of SD which slows decomposition relative to that of DD. By applying these results, a new set of SD density reduction factors was developed for 260 species inventoried by FIA in forests of the United States. Comparison of biomass estimates using this study's proposed SD density reduction factors with existing SD volume estimates based solely on undecayed wood density indicated a possible biomass overestimate of 16.5 percent for Minnesota. Given the size of the potential biases involved and the uncertainty associated with decay reduction factors developed in this study, additional work to develop a multispecies SD decay class system and further empirical sampling of SD tree density is recommended.

Notes:

Title from title screen (viewed Oct. 5, 2011).

"August 2011"--Page [ii].

Includes bibliographical references (pages 15-17).

Other Format:

Print version: Differences between standing and downed dead tree wood density reduction factors

OCLC:

755925670