Carbon and Nitrogen Content and CO2 Efflux from Coarse Woody Debris of Norway Spruce, Black Alder, and Silver Birch
2025
Dovilė Čiuldienė | Egidijus Vigricas | Greta Galdikaitė | Vidas Stakėnas | Kęstutis Armolaitis | Iveta Varnagirytė-Kabašinskienė
Coarse woody debris (CWD) is an essential component in forest ecosystems, playing a significant role in enhancing biodiversity, soil formation, and nutrient cycling through decomposition processes. CWD also contributes to greenhouse gas fluxes, particularly through CO2 emissions. This study investigated the physical and chemical properties of CWD and the CO2 effluxes from CWD of different decay classes. For this study, a range of CWD&mdash:from recently dead to highly decomposed wood&mdash:of native tree species such as silver birch (Betula pendula Roth), black alder (Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn.), and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) in hemiboreal forests were investigated. The findings showed that CWD properties significantly differed among tree species and CWD decay classes. Significant variations in wood density and total nitrogen (N) were observed in the early stages of CWD decay, with the highest values found for the deciduous tree species. The concentration of organic carbon (C) increased throughout the decomposition. The lowest CO2 efflux from CWD was found for spruce CWD from all decay classes and it was the highest for black alder and silver birch, especially for the 3rd and 4th decay classes. CO2 efflux was mainly influenced by the degree of decomposition, which was represented by the CWD decay class, followed by wood density and C content.
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