{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/108520"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/108520","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Interspecific wood trait variation predicts decreased carbon residence time in changing forests","abstract":"1. Increasing disturbance will result in a significant flux in aboveground carbon (C) from live trees to deadwood, concurrent with compositional shifts. While interspecific decay variation is widely reported, the implications of forest compositional change on ecosystem-level deadwood decay and consequently, the future of a globally significant C pool have not been previously explored. 2. Leveraging a 25-year treefall record for two eastern hardwood forests in central Illinois, USA, we used a chronosequence approach to estimate downed deadwood decay rates for eight common tree taxa. We hypothesized the increasing dominance of Acer spp. in eastern forests, due to disturbance regime changes, is driving a decrease in the mean species-weighted deadwood decay rate, decreasing the total C storage capacity of regional forests. 3. We observed significantly greater interspecific variation in deadwood decay rates than short- term studies, with a thirteen-fold difference in half-lives between Aesculus glabra (T1/2 = 6.4 years) and Quercus spp. (T1/2 = 77.8) logs. The canopy-dominant Acer saccharum (T1/2 = 17.8) decayed significantly faster than other historically dominant eastern taxa, Quercus spp. and Fraxinus spp. (T1/2 = 47.4). At multi-decadal timescales, wood traits, notably taxon initial wood C:N ratio and Mn concentration, outweighed environmental factors in explaining variation in decay rates. A significant interaction between soil pH and wood Mn, which co-regulate microbial lignin degradation, suggests a similar importance of Mn in modulating woody debris decay rates as has been previously described for litter decay. 4. Synthesis. Our decay estimates highlight the importance of long-term studies for accurately assessing decay of recalcitrant species (high C:N ratio), as short-term decay studies are prone to underestimating their decay rates. Our results suggest that current and future forest compositional changes will have direct consequences on the residence time of the deadwood C pool due to interspecific wood trait variation.","abstract_html":"1. Increasing disturbance will result in a significant flux in aboveground carbon (C) from live trees to deadwood, concurrent with compositional shifts. While interspecific decay variation is widely reported, the implications of forest compositional change on ecosystem-level deadwood decay and consequently, the future of a globally significant C pool have not been previously explored. 2. Leveraging a 25-year treefall record for two eastern hardwood forests in central Illinois, USA, we used a chronosequence approach to estimate downed deadwood decay rates for eight common tree taxa. We hypothesized the increasing dominance of Acer spp. in eastern forests, due to disturbance regime changes, is driving a decrease in the mean species-weighted deadwood decay rate, decreasing the total C storage capacity of regional forests. 3. We observed significantly greater interspecific variation in deadwood decay rates than short- term studies, with a thirteen-fold difference in half-lives between Aesculus glabra (T1/2 = 6.4 years) and Quercus spp. (T1/2 = 77.8) logs. The canopy-dominant Acer saccharum (T1/2 = 17.8) decayed significantly faster than other historically dominant eastern taxa, Quercus spp. and Fraxinus spp. (T1/2 = 47.4). At multi-decadal timescales, wood traits, notably taxon initial wood C:N ratio and Mn concentration, outweighed environmental factors in explaining variation in decay rates. A significant interaction between soil pH and wood Mn, which co-regulate microbial lignin degradation, suggests a similar importance of Mn in modulating woody debris decay rates as has been previously described for litter decay. 4. Synthesis. Our decay estimates highlight the importance of long-term studies for accurately assessing decay of recalcitrant species (high C:N ratio), as short-term decay studies are prone to underestimating their decay rates. Our results suggest that current and future forest compositional changes will have direct consequences on the residence time of the deadwood C pool due to interspecific wood trait variation.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Perez, Sierra Brown"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.S.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Ecol, Evol, Conservation Biol","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dalling, James W","Fraterrigo, Jennifer M","Yang, Wendy H","Yannarell, Anthony C"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-10-07T21:00:05Z","date_published":"2020-10-07T21:00:05Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:48Z","subjects":["Deadwood","carbon storage","decay","disturbance"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2020 Sierra Perez"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/108520","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dalling, James W","Fraterrigo, Jennifer M","Yang, Wendy H","Yannarell, Anthony C"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Perez, Sierra Brown"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2020-10-07T21:00:05Z","2020-07-20","2020-08"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Ecol, Evol, Conservation Biol"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.S."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Deadwood","carbon storage","decay","disturbance"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2020 Sierra Perez"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/108520"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["1. Increasing disturbance will result in a significant flux in aboveground carbon (C) from live trees to deadwood, concurrent with compositional shifts. While interspecific decay variation is widely reported, the implications of forest compositional change on ecosystem-level deadwood decay and consequently, the future of a globally significant C pool have not been previously explored. 2. Leveraging a 25-year treefall record for two eastern hardwood forests in central Illinois, USA, we used a chronosequence approach to estimate downed deadwood decay rates for eight common tree taxa. We hypothesized the increasing dominance of Acer spp. in eastern forests, due to disturbance regime changes, is driving a decrease in the mean species-weighted deadwood decay rate, decreasing the total C storage capacity of regional forests. 3. We observed significantly greater interspecific variation in deadwood decay rates than short- term studies, with a thirteen-fold difference in half-lives between Aesculus glabra (T1/2 = 6.4 years) and Quercus spp. (T1/2 = 77.8) logs. The canopy-dominant Acer saccharum (T1/2 = 17.8) decayed significantly faster than other historically dominant eastern taxa, Quercus spp. and Fraxinus spp. (T1/2 = 47.4). At multi-decadal timescales, wood traits, notably taxon initial wood C:N ratio and Mn concentration, outweighed environmental factors in explaining variation in decay rates. A significant interaction between soil pH and wood Mn, which co-regulate microbial lignin degradation, suggests a similar importance of Mn in modulating woody debris decay rates as has been previously described for litter decay. 4. Synthesis. Our decay estimates highlight the importance of long-term studies for accurately assessing decay of recalcitrant species (high C:N ratio), as short-term decay studies are prone to underestimating their decay rates. Our results suggest that current and future forest compositional changes will have direct consequences on the residence time of the deadwood C pool due to interspecific wood trait variation.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2020-10-02 without embargo terms","The student, Sierra Perez, accepted the attached license on 2020-07-20 at 09:11.","The student, Sierra Perez, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2020-07-20 at 09:30.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2020-07-20 at 15:48.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #15692 on 2020-10-02 at 15:14:56","Made available in DSpace on 2020-10-07T21:00:05Z (GMT). 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While interspecific decay variation is widely reported, the implications of forest compositional change on ecosystem-level deadwood decay and consequently, the future of a globally significant C pool have not been previously explored. 2. Leveraging a 25-year treefall record for two eastern hardwood forests in central Illinois, USA, we used a chronosequence approach to estimate downed deadwood decay rates for eight common tree taxa. We hypothesized the increasing dominance of Acer spp. in eastern forests, due to disturbance regime changes, is driving a decrease in the mean species-weighted deadwood decay rate, decreasing the total C storage capacity of regional forests. 3. We observed significantly greater interspecific variation in deadwood decay rates than short- term studies, with a thirteen-fold difference in half-lives between Aesculus glabra (T1/2 = 6.4 years) and Quercus spp. (T1/2 = 77.8) logs. The canopy-dominant Acer saccharum (T1/2 = 17.8) decayed significantly faster than other historically dominant eastern taxa, Quercus spp. and Fraxinus spp. (T1/2 = 47.4). At multi-decadal timescales, wood traits, notably taxon initial wood C:N ratio and Mn concentration, outweighed environmental factors in explaining variation in decay rates. A significant interaction between soil pH and wood Mn, which co-regulate microbial lignin degradation, suggests a similar importance of Mn in modulating woody debris decay rates as has been previously described for litter decay. 4. Synthesis. Our decay estimates highlight the importance of long-term studies for accurately assessing decay of recalcitrant species (high C:N ratio), as short-term decay studies are prone to underestimating their decay rates. Our results suggest that current and future forest compositional changes will have direct consequences on the residence time of the deadwood C pool due to interspecific wood trait variation.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2020-10-02 without embargo terms","The student, Sierra Perez, accepted the attached license on 2020-07-20 at 09:11.","The student, Sierra Perez, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2020-07-20 at 09:30.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2020-07-20 at 15:48.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #15692 on 2020-10-02 at 15:14:56","Made available in DSpace on 2020-10-07T21:00:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 PEREZ-THESIS-2020.pdf: 1519145 bytes, checksum: 359f26a35803a7d899f30cbded085877 (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4209 bytes, checksum: dcb0f53922a53cd53c8607b808a9a39a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2020-07-20"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/108520"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2020 Sierra Perez"],"dc:subject":["Deadwood","carbon storage","decay","disturbance"],"dc:title":["Interspecific wood trait variation predicts decreased carbon residence time in changing forests"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Ecol, Evol, Conservation Biol"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.S."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:48Z"}