Forest Topsoil Organic Carbon Declines Under Ash Dieback.

ABSTRACT: Tree diseases are increasingly affecting woodland ecosystems across the world. However, the impact of these diseases upon the soil, and in particular soil carbon, is still poorly understood. Here we present the results of a field survey of ~100 woodlands across Great Britain measured in 1971, 2001 and 2022 and evaluate the fifty-year trend in topsoil (0-15 cm) carbon based upon measurements of soil organic matter (SOM) and the impact of Hymenoscyphus fraxineus (ash dieback). To better represent the full SOM distribution, including the extremely high SOM measurements, we adopt a Beta mixture modelling approach within a Bayesian framework. Across all woodlands, comprising ~1,500 plots per survey, average SOM remained constant across the fifty-year time series. However, the 311 plots with ash

SUBMITTER: Seaton FM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12364553 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature