The global distribution and drivers of wood density and their impact on forest carbon stocks

Lidong Mo; Thomas Crowther; Daniel Maynard; Johan van den Hoogen; Haozhi Ma; Lalasia Bialic-Murphy; Jingjing Liang; Sergio De-Miguel; Gert-Jan Nabuurs; Peter Reich; Oliver Phillips; Meinrad Abegg; Yves Adou Yao; Giorgio Alberti; Angelica Almeyda Zambrano; Braulio Vilchez Alvarado; Esteban Alvarez-Dávila; Patricia Alvarez-Loayza; Luciana Alves; Iêda Amaral; Christian Ammer; Clara Antón-Fernández; Alejandro Araujo-Murakami; Luzmila Arroyo; Valerio Avitabile; Gerardo Aymard; Timothy Baker; Radomir Bałazy; Olaf Banki; Jorcely Barroso; Meredith Bastian; Jean-Francois Bastin; Luca Birigazzi; Philippe Birnbaum; Robert Bitariho; Pascal Boeckx; Frans Bongers; Coline Boonman; Olivier Bouriaud; Pedro Brancalion; Susanne Brandl; Francis Brearley; Roel Brienen; Eben Broadbent; Helge Bruelheide; Filippo Bussotti; Roberto Cazzolla Gatti; Ricardo César; Goran Cesljar; Robin Chazdon; Han Chen; Chelsea Chisholm; Hyunkook Cho; Emil Cienciala; Connie Clark; David Clark; Gabriel Colletta; David Coomes; Fernando Cornejo Valverde; José Corral-Rivas; Philip Crim; Jonathan Cumming; Selvadurai Dayanandan; André de Gasper; Mathieu Decuyper; Géraldine Derroire; Ben Devries; Ilija Djordjevic; Jiri Dolezal; Aurélie Dourdain; Nestor Laurier Engone Obiang; Brian Enquist; Teresa Eyre; Adandé Belarmain Fandohan; Tom Fayle; Ted Feldpausch; Leandro Ferreira; Leena Finér; Markus Fischer; Christine Fletcher; Lorenzo Frizzera; Javier Gamarra; Damiano Gianelle; Henry Glick; David Harris; Andrew Hector; Andreas Hemp; Geerten Hengeveld; Bruno Hérault; John Herbohn; Martin Herold; Peter Hietz; Annika Hillers; Eurídice Honorio Coronado; Cang Hui; Thomas Ibanez; Nobuo Imai; Andrzej Jagodziński; Bogdan Jaroszewicz; Vivian Kvist Johannsen; Carlos Joly; Tommaso Jucker; Ilbin Jung; Viktor Karminov; Kuswata Kartawinata; Elizabeth Kearsley; David Kenfack; Deborah Kennard; Sebastian Kepfer-Rojas; Gunnar Keppel; Mohammed Latif Khan; Timothy Killeen; Hyun Seok Kim; Kanehiro Kitayama; Michael Köhl; Henn Korjus; Florian Kraxner; Dmitry Kucher; Diana Laarmann; Mait Lang; Simon Lewis; Yuanzhi Li; Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez; Huicui Lu; Natalia Lukina; Brian Maitner; Yadvinder Malhi; Eric Marcon; Beatriz Schwantes Marimon; Ben Hur Marimon-Junior; Andrew Marshall; Emanuel Martin; James Mccarthy; Jorge Meave; Omar Melo-Cruz; Casimiro Mendoza; Irina Mendoza-Polo; Stanislaw Miscicki; Cory Merow; Abel Monteagudo Mendoza; Vanessa Moreno; Sharif Mukul; Philip Mundhenk; María Guadalupe Nava-Miranda; David Neill; Victor Neldner; Radovan Nevenic; Michael Ngugi; Pascal Niklaus; Petr Ontikov; Edgar Ortiz-Malavasi; Yude Pan; Alain Paquette; Alexander Parada-Gutierrez; Elena Parfenova; Minjee Park; Marc Parren; Narayanaswamy Parthasarathy; Pablo Peri; Sebastian Pfautsch; Nicolas Picard; Maria Teresa F. Piedade; Daniel Piotto; Nigel Pitman; Lourens Poorter; Axel Dalberg Poulsen; John Poulsen; Hans Pretzsch; Freddy Ramirez Arevalo; Zorayda Restrepo-Correa; Sarah Richardson; Mirco Rodeghiero; Samir Rolim; Anand Roopsind; Francesco Rovero; Ervan Rutishauser; Purabi Saikia; Christian Salas-Eljatib; Philippe Saner; Peter Schall; Mart-Jan Schelhaas; Dmitry Schepaschenko; Michael Scherer-Lorenzen; Bernhard Schmid; Jochen Schöngart; Eric Searle; Vladimír Seben; Josep Serra-Diaz; Douglas Sheil; Anatoly Shvidenko; Ana Carolina da Silva; Javier Silva-Espejo; Marcos Silveira; James Singh; Plinio Sist; Ferry Slik; Bonaventure Sonké; Enio Egon Sosinski; Alexandre Souza; Krzysztof Stereńczak; Jens-Christian Svenning; Miroslav Svoboda; Ben Swanepoel; Natalia Targhetta; Nadja Tchebakova; Hans ter Steege; Raquel Thomas; Elena Tikhonova; Peter Umunay; Vladimir Usoltsev; Renato Valencia; Fernando Valladares; Peter van Bodegom; Fons van der Plas; Tran van Do; Michael van Nuland; Rodolfo Vasquez; Hans Verbeeck; Helder Viana; Alexander Vibrans; Simone Vieira; Klaus von Gadow; Hua-Feng Wang; James Watson; Gijsbert Werner; Florian Wittmann; Hannsjoerg Woell; Verginia Wortel; Roderick Zagt; Tomasz Zawiła-Niedźwiecki; Chunyu Zhang; Xiuhai Zhao; Mo Zhou; Zhi-Xin Zhu; Irie Zo-Bi; Constantin Zohner

doi:10.1038/s41559-024-02564-9

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The global distribution and drivers of wood density and their impact on forest carbon stocks

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The global distribution and drivers of wood density and their impact on forest carbon stocks

Lidong Mo, Thomas Crowther, Daniel Maynard, Johan van den Hoogen, Haozhi Ma, Lalasia Bialic-Murphy, Jingjing Liang, Sergio De-Miguel, Gert-Jan Nabuurs, Peter Reich, …

Nature Ecology & Evolution, Vol.8

15/10/2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02564-9

Abstract

Ecological modelling

Forest ecology

Plant ecology

The density of wood is a key indicator of the carbon investment strategies of trees, impacting productivity and carbon storage. Despite its importance, the global variation in wood density and its environmental controls remain poorly understood, preventing accurate predictions of global forest carbon stocks. Here we analyse information from 1.1 million forest inventory plots alongside wood density data from 10,703 tree species to create a spatially explicit understanding of the global wood density distribution and its drivers. Our findings reveal a pronounced latitudinal gradient, with wood in tropical forests being up to 30% denser than that in boreal forests. In both angiosperms and gymnosperms, hydrothermal conditions represented by annual mean temperature and soil moisture emerged as the primary factors influencing the variation in wood density globally. This indicates similar environmental filters and evolutionary adaptations among distinct plant groups, underscoring the essential role of abiotic factors in determining wood density in forest ecosystems. Additionally, our study highlights the prominent role of disturbance, such as human modification and fire risk, in influencing wood density at more local scales. Factoring in the spatial variation of wood density notably changes the estimates of forest carbon stocks, leading to differences of up to 21% within biomes. Therefore, our research contributes to a deeper understanding of terrestrial biomass distribution and how environmental changes and disturbances impact forest ecosystems.

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Title: The global distribution and drivers of wood density and their impact on forest carbon stocks
Creators - without role: Lidong Mo - ETH Zurich
Thomas Crowther - ETH Zurich
Daniel Maynard - ETH Zurich
Johan van den Hoogen - ETH Zurich
Haozhi Ma - ETH Zurich
Lalasia Bialic-Murphy - ETH Zurich
Jingjing Liang - Purdue University West Lafayette
Sergio De-Miguel - Universitat de Lleida
Gert-Jan Nabuurs - Wageningen University & Research
Peter Reich - Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
Oliver Phillips - University of Leeds
Meinrad Abegg - Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research
Yves Adou Yao
Giorgio Alberti - University of Udine
Angelica Almeyda Zambrano
Braulio Vilchez Alvarado - Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica
Esteban Alvarez-Dávila - Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia
Patricia Alvarez-Loayza - Field Museum of Natural History
Luciana Alves - Institute of the Environment
Iêda Amaral
Christian Ammer - University of Göttingen
Clara Antón-Fernández - Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research
Alejandro Araujo-Murakami - Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado
Luzmila Arroyo - Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado
Valerio Avitabile - Joint Research Centre
Gerardo Aymard
Timothy Baker - University of Leeds
Radomir Bałazy - Instytut Badawczy Leśnictwa
Olaf Banki - Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Jorcely Barroso - Universidade Federal do Acre
Meredith Bastian - National Academy of Sciences
Jean-Francois Bastin
Luca Birigazzi - Ospedale Misericordia - Grosseto
Philippe Birnbaum - Université de Montpellier, BotAnique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des végétations - AMAP
Robert Bitariho - Mbarara University of Science and Technology
Pascal Boeckx - Ghent University
Frans Bongers - Wageningen University & Research
Coline Boonman
Olivier Bouriaud - Ştefan cel Mare University of Suceava
Pedro Brancalion
Susanne Brandl - Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture
Francis Brearley - Manchester Metropolitan University
Roel Brienen - University of Leeds
Eben Broadbent - University of Florida
Helge Bruelheide - German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research
Filippo Bussotti - University of Florence
Roberto Cazzolla Gatti - University of Bologna
Ricardo César - Universidade de São Paulo
Goran Cesljar - Institute of Forestry
Robin Chazdon - University of Connecticut
Han Chen
Chelsea Chisholm - ETH Zurich
Hyunkook Cho - Korea Forest Service
Emil Cienciala - Czech Academy of Sciences, Global Change Research Institute
Connie Clark - Duke University
David Clark - University of Missouri–St. Louis
Gabriel Colletta - Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)
David Coomes - Conservation Leadership Programme
Fernando Cornejo Valverde
José Corral-Rivas - Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango
Philip Crim - West Virginia University
Jonathan Cumming - West Virginia University
Selvadurai Dayanandan - Concordia University
André de Gasper - Universidade Regional de Blumenau
Mathieu Decuyper - Wageningen University & Research
Géraldine Derroire - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement
Ben Devries - University of Guelph
Ilija Djordjevic - Institute of Forestry
Jiri Dolezal - University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice
Aurélie Dourdain - Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement
Nestor Laurier Engone Obiang
Brian Enquist - University of Arizona
Teresa Eyre - Queensland Department of Environment and Science
Adandé Belarmain Fandohan - Université d'Agriculture de Kétou
Tom Fayle - Queen Mary University of London
Ted Feldpausch - University of Exeter
Leandro Ferreira - Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi
Leena Finér - Natural Resources Institute Finland
Markus Fischer - University of Bern
Christine Fletcher - Forest Research Institute Malaysia
Lorenzo Frizzera - Fondazione Edmund Mach
Javier Gamarra
Damiano Gianelle - Fondazione Edmund Mach
Henry Glick
David Harris - Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Andrew Hector
Andreas Hemp - University of Bayreuth
Geerten Hengeveld - Wageningen University & Research
Bruno Hérault - Forests and Societies
John Herbohn - University of the Sunshine Coast
Martin Herold - Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences
Peter Hietz - BOKU University
Annika Hillers - Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Eurídice Honorio Coronado
Cang Hui - African Institute for Mathematical Sciences
Thomas Ibanez - Université de Montpellier, BotAnique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des végétations - AMAP
Nobuo Imai - Tokyo University of Agriculture
Andrzej Jagodziński - University of Life Sciences in Poznań
Bogdan Jaroszewicz - Białowieża National Park
Vivian Kvist Johannsen - University of Copenhagen
Carlos Joly - Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)
Tommaso Jucker - University of Bristol
Ilbin Jung - Korea Forest Service
Viktor Karminov - Bauman Moscow State Technical University
Kuswata Kartawinata - Field Museum of Natural History
Elizabeth Kearsley - Ghent University
David Kenfack - Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Deborah Kennard - Colorado Mesa University
Sebastian Kepfer-Rojas - University of Copenhagen
Gunnar Keppel - University of South Australia
Mohammed Latif Khan - Dr. Hari Singh Gour University
Timothy Killeen - Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado
Hyun Seok Kim - Seoul National University
Kanehiro Kitayama - Kyoto University
Michael Köhl
Henn Korjus - Estonian University of Life Sciences
Florian Kraxner - International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Dmitry Kucher - Peoples' Friendship University of Russia
Diana Laarmann - Estonian University of Life Sciences
Mait Lang - Estonian University of Life Sciences
Simon Lewis - University College London
Yuanzhi Li - Sun Yat-sen University
Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez - University of Leeds
Huicui Lu - Qingdao Agricultural University
Natalia Lukina
Brian Maitner - University of Arizona
Yadvinder Malhi
Eric Marcon - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement
Beatriz Schwantes Marimon - Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso
Ben Hur Marimon-Junior
Andrew Marshall - University of the Sunshine Coast
Emanuel Martin - College of African Wildlife Management
James Mccarthy - Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research
Jorge Meave - Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Omar Melo-Cruz - University of Tolima
Casimiro Mendoza - Universidad Indígena Quechua Boliviana Casimiro Huanca
Irina Mendoza-Polo
Stanislaw Miscicki
Cory Merow - University of Connecticut
Abel Monteagudo Mendoza
Vanessa Moreno - Forest Science and Research Institute
Sharif Mukul - University of the Sunshine Coast
Philip Mundhenk - Universität Hamburg
María Guadalupe Nava-Miranda - Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
David Neill - Universidad Estatal Amazónica
Victor Neldner - Queensland Department of Environment and Science
Radovan Nevenic - Institute of Forestry
Michael Ngugi - Queensland Department of Environment and Science
Pascal Niklaus - University of Zurich
Petr Ontikov - Bauman Moscow State Technical University
Edgar Ortiz-Malavasi - Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica
Yude Pan - US Forest Service
Alain Paquette - Université du Québec à Montréal
Alexander Parada-Gutierrez - Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado
Elena Parfenova - Sukachev Institute of Forest
Minjee Park - Seoul National University
Marc Parren - Wageningen University & Research
Narayanaswamy Parthasarathy - Pondicherry University
Pablo Peri - National University of Austral Patagonia
Sebastian Pfautsch - Western Sydney University
Nicolas Picard - Ecologie des Forêts de Guyane
Maria Teresa F. Piedade - National Institute of Amazonian Research
Daniel Piotto - Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahia
Nigel Pitman
Lourens Poorter - Wageningen University & Research
Axel Dalberg Poulsen - Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
John Poulsen - The Nature Conservancy
Hans Pretzsch - Universidad de Valladolid
Freddy Ramirez Arevalo - Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana
Zorayda Restrepo-Correa - Fundación Con Vida
Sarah Richardson - Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research
Mirco Rodeghiero - Centro Agricoltura Ambiente
Samir Rolim - Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahia
Anand Roopsind - Conservation International
Francesco Rovero - University of Florence
Ervan Rutishauser
Purabi Saikia - Banaras Hindu University
Christian Salas-Eljatib
Philippe Saner
Peter Schall - University of Göttingen
Mart-Jan Schelhaas - Wageningen University & Research
Dmitry Schepaschenko - International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Michael Scherer-Lorenzen - University of Freiburg
Bernhard Schmid - University of Zurich
Jochen Schöngart - National Institute of Amazonian Research
Eric Searle - Université du Québec à Montréal
Vladimír Seben - National Forest Centre
Josep Serra-Diaz - AgroParisTech
Douglas Sheil - Wageningen University & Research
Anatoly Shvidenko
Ana Carolina da Silva - Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina
Javier Silva-Espejo - University of La Serena
Marcos Silveira - Universidade Federal do Acre
James Singh - Guyana Forestry Commission
Plinio Sist - Forests and Societies
Ferry Slik - Universiti Brunei Darussalam
Bonaventure Sonké - Université de Yaoundé I
Enio Egon Sosinski - Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation
Alexandre Souza - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte
Krzysztof Stereńczak - Instytut Badawczy Leśnictwa
Jens-Christian Svenning
Miroslav Svoboda - Czech University of Life Sciences Prague
Ben Swanepoel - Wildlife Conservation Society Laos
Natalia Targhetta - National Institute of Amazonian Research
Nadja Tchebakova - Sukachev Institute of Forest
Hans ter Steege - Utrecht University
Raquel Thomas - Guiana Space Centre
Elena Tikhonova
Peter Umunay - Yale University
Vladimir Usoltsev - Ural State Forestry Engineering University
Renato Valencia - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador
Fernando Valladares - Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales
Peter van Bodegom - Leiden University
Fons van der Plas - Wageningen University & Research
Tran van Do - Forest Industry Research Institute
Michael van Nuland - Stanford University
Rodolfo Vasquez
Hans Verbeeck - Ghent University
Helder Viana - University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro
Alexander Vibrans - Universidade Regional de Blumenau
Simone Vieira - Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)
Klaus von Gadow - Stellenbosch University
Hua-Feng Wang
James Watson
Gijsbert Werner
Florian Wittmann - Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Hannsjoerg Woell
Verginia Wortel
Roderick Zagt
Tomasz Zawiła-Niedźwiecki
Chunyu Zhang - Beijing Forestry University
Xiuhai Zhao - Beijing Forestry University
Mo Zhou - Purdue University West Lafayette
Zhi-Xin Zhu
Irie Zo-Bi - Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny
Constantin Zohner - ETH Zurich
Publication Details: Nature Ecology & Evolution, Vol.8
Grant note: This work was supported by grants to L.M. from the China Scholarship Council, to C.M.Z. from the SNF Ambizione Fellowship programme (no. PZ00P3_193646) and to T.W.C. from DOB Ecology and the Bernina Foundation. We thank RESTOR (www.restor.eco) for providing data and Google Earth Engine for analytical support. This study was in part supported by the ESA CCI Biomass project funded by the European Space Agency (4000123662/18/I-NB) and The Open Earth Monitor Project funded by the European Union. The GEO-TREES initiative (https://geo-trees.org/) contributed plot data to this study, supported by the European Space Agency, IIASA, RAINFOR, AfriTRON, ForestPlots.net, ForestGEO, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, TmFO, Universite de Toulouse, University of Leeds, UCL and CIRAD. The French National Forest Inventory data were downloaded by GFBi at https://inventaire-forestier.ign.fr/dataifn/; the Italian Forest Inventory data were downloaded by GFBi at https://inventarioforestale.org/. O. Bouriaud acknowledges funding from the Romanian National Council for Higher Education Funding, CNFIS, project no. CNFIS-FDI-2024-F-0155. J.-C.S. considers this work a contribution to Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), funded by Danish National Research Foundation (grant no. DNRF173) and his VILLUM Investigator project ‘Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World’, funded by VILLUM FONDEN (grant no. 16549). ForestPlots.net and RAINFOR contributions led by O.L.P. were supported by multiple sources including the Royal Society (GCRF International Collaboration Award ICA\R1\180100), the European Research Council (advanced grant no. 291585), the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NE/B504630/1, NE/D010306/1, NE/G012067/1, NE/D005590/1, NE/I028122/1, NE/S011811/1) and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The exploratory plots of FunDivEUROPE were established through funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013 under grant no. 265171. T.M.F. was supported by a Czech Science Foundation Standard Grant (21-06446S). We thank the FCT—Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, project UIDB/04033/2020 and ICNF-Instituto da Conservação da Natureza, Portugal, National Forest Inventory for support. This study used GFBi plot data originally collected in Brazil with funding by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (project 520053/1998-2). We are grateful to all the ministries and agencies from the Government of Spain that supported the collection, compilation and coordination of forest inventory data, also including the Spanish Forest Inventories. S.d.M. was supported by the Serra-Húnter fellowship provided by the Government of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya). C.A. and P. Schall thank the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Priority Program 1374 Biodiversity Exploratories. We acknowledge the use of data drawn from the Natural Forest plot data collected between January 2009 and March 2014 by the LUCAS programme for the New Zealand Ministry for the Environment. Data were sourced via the NZ National Vegetation Survey Databank. Data from T.R.F. were supported by NERC (NE/W001691/1, NE/N011570/1, NE/R017980/1). K.J.S. thanks the IBL for supporting this work by internal funds under project no. 261509 AFTER FBS—maintenance of ForBioSensing project performance indicators.
Identifiers: 9941880609311
Academic Unit: BotAnique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des végétations - AMAP
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article
Local Fields: hal-04797372