Publication at Faculty of Science |
2015
Abstract
Wood is the main terrestrial biotic reservoir for long-term carbon sequestration1, and its formation in trees consumes around 15% of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions each year2. However, the seasonal dynamics of woody biomass productioncannot be quantified from eddy covariance or satellite observations.
As such, our understanding of this key carbon cycle component, and its sensitivity to climate, remains limited. Here, we present high-resolution cellular based measurements of wood formation dynamics in three coniferous forest sites in northeastern France, performed over a period of 3 years.
We show that stem woody biomass production lags behind stem-girth increase by over 1 month.