Multi-decade biomass dynamics in an old-growth hemlock-northern hardwood forest, Michigan, USA.

ABSTRACT: Trends in living aboveground biomass and inputs to the pool of coarse woody debris (CWD) in an undisturbed, old-growth hemlock-northern hardwood forest in northern MI were estimated from multi-decade observations of permanent plots. Growth and demographic data from seven plot censuses over 47 years (1962-2009), combined with one-time measurement of CWD pools, help assess biomass/carbon status of this landscape. Are trends consistent with traditional notions of late-successional forests as equilibrial ecosystems? Specifically, do biomass pools and CWD inputs show consistent long-term trends and relationships, and can living and dead biomass pools and trends be related to forest composition and history? Aboveground living biomass densities, estimated using standard allometric relationships,

SUBMITTER: Woods KD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4183956 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature