Tree species richness and productivity influence deadwood amount, but microclimate its decay in an early successional subtropical forest

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Dadda, Matteo ; Thorn, Simon ; Luo, Arong ; Deng, Xianglu ; Liu, Xiaojuan ; Feldhaar, Heike:
Tree species richness and productivity influence deadwood amount, but microclimate its decay in an early successional subtropical forest.
In: European Journal of Forest Research. Vol. 145 (2026) . - 80.
ISSN 1612-4677
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-026-01919-0

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Abstract in another language

Deadwood availability and turnover are fundamental for forest ecosystem functioning, affecting biodiversity and carbon storage. Identifying their drivers already at early forest successional stages is central to restoration and management, yet the effects of tree diversity on deadwood dynamics remain unclear, especially in the subtropics. We evaluated how tree species richness and identity influence accumulation and decay of deadwood in an early successional stage forest working in a large-scale tree diversity experimental platform in subtropical South-East China covering a tree species richness gradient spanning from monocultures to 24-species mixtures. Naturally occurring deadwood was assessed as volume of coarse woody debris (CWD, diameter > 7 cm) and mass of fine woody debris (FWD, diameter < 7 cm). Plots with higher tree species richness produced more FWD and showed reduced inter-plot variability in deadwood accumulation, suggesting that tree species richness is already shaping dead wood dynamics in early successional stages. Stand productivity, however, predicted deadwood accumulation more strongly than richness per se. Instead, decomposition was mainly associated with canopy closure rather than with plot-level tree species diversity or identity. These results indicate that in early successional stages tree diversity and productivity may already set the foundation for future forest structure and carbon cycling, with implications for ecosystem resilience and predictability of deadwood pools in later successional stages. From a management perspective, combining species-rich planting with targeted inclusion of productive species can accelerate the recovery of deadwood habitats for saproxylic organisms, thus yielding carbon and biodiversity co-benefits.