Fallen wood decomposition of Pinus koraiensis and Tilia amurensis

Fallen wood decomposition rate ofPinus koraiensis andTilia amurensis in broadleaved Korean pine forest was studied in this paper. The result showed that decomposition rate of fallen wood was different from that of little diameter wood and coarse woody debris for the same tree species. Fallen wood decomposition was generally rotten from outside to inside. And decomposition speed of fallen woods was different according to tree species and site, and it was also related to diameter of fallen woods. Decomposition depth ofTilia amurensis fallen wood for 17 years was 14 cm, but that ofPinus koraiensis in the same condition was less than 7 cm.Tilia amurensis was decomposed faster thanPinus koraiensis. For same tree species, if the diameter was small, the decomposition speed was quick.

An easy,convenient statistical method to analyze bark beetle populations

A non-invasive method to estimate the number of Trypodendron lineatum holes on dead standing pines(Pinus sylvestris L.)was developed using linear and nonlinear estimations.A clas sical linear regres sion model was first used to analyze the relationship between the number of holes caused by T.lineatum on selected stem units and the total number of holes on an entire dead stem of P.sylvestris.Then,to obtain a better fit of the regression function to the data for the stem unit selected in the first step,piecewise linear regression(PLR)was used.Last,in an area used to evaluate wood decomposition(method validation),the total and mean numbers of T.lineatum holes were estimated for single dead trees and for a sample(n=8 dead trees).Data were collected in 2009(data set D1),in 2010-2014(data set D2)and in 2020(data set D3)in forests containing P.sylvestris located within Suchedniow-Oblegorek Landscape Park,Poland.A model was constructed with three linear equations.An evaluation of model accuracy showed that it was highly effective regardless of the density of T.lineatum holes and sample size.The method enables the evaluation of the biological role of this species in the decomposition of dead standing wood of P.sylvestris in strictly protected areas.

The effect of microclimate on wood decay is indirectly altered by tree species diversity in a litterbag study

Aims We studied the influence of tree species diversity on the dynamics of coarse wood decomposition in developing forest communities in a natural,topographically heterogeneous landscape.Using the litter bag technique,we investigated how and to which extent canopy tree species richness or the exclusion of mesoinvertebrates and macroinvertebrates affected wood decomposition in the light of natural variations in the microclimate.We compared the relative importance of the two aspects(experimental treatment versus microclimate)on wood decay rates using Schima superba as a standard litter.Methods Coarse woody debris(CWD)was deposited in litter bags with two different mesh sizes in a total of 134 plots along a gradient of canopy tree species richness(0-24 species).Wood decomposition was assessed at two consecutive time points,one and three years after deposition in the field.Local climatic conditions were assessed throughout the duration of the experiment.Microclimatic conditions were assessed both,directly in the field as well as indirectly via correlations with local topography.We used analysis of variance based approaches to assess the relative importance of the treatments(community tree species richness and macro invertebrate exclusion)and microclimatic conditions on wood decay.Important Findings No direct influence of tree species richness on wood decay could be detected.However,the exclusion of macroinvertebrates significantly decreased wood decomposition rates.In addition,microclimatic conditions accounted for a substantial proportion of explained variance in the observed data.Here,wood decomposition was negatively affected by low mean temperatures and high variations in local humidity and temperature.However,tree species richness as well as the respective species composition affected the presence of termites within forest communities.These,in turn,significantly increased the decay of CWD.The strength of both,experimental treatment and microclimate increased with ongoing decomposition.We conclude that,while tree species richness per se has no direct influence on wood decomposition,its influence on the local arthropod decomposer community(especially the presence of termites)does have an effect.