Biomass Proportions of Bog Shrubs: A Comment on Implications for Carbon Economy

Abstract

Walle6n (1986) estimated the proportion of fine roots (<0.5 mm) of Empetrum and Andromeda to be 68 and 88% respectively (extracted from Fig. 1 in Wallen 1986). The leaf mass was about 4.2 and 1.4% of plant dry weight respectively, using proportions between above ground stems and leaves of 73% for Empetrum and 81% for Andromeda (Malmer pers. comm.). The seasonal photosynthetic assimilation of evergreen leaves has been calculated to be 4-10 g CO2 (g leaves)-' yr-' (Schulze et al. 1977, Agren et al. 1980, Karlsson 1985a). The seasonal carbon gain could thus be estimated to 0.17-0.4 g CO2 (g biomass)-1 for Empetrum and 0.06-0.14 for Andromeda. One gram CO2 corresponds to about 0.53 g dry matter (Penning de Vries 1975) giving a biomass production of these two dwarf shrubs of 0.09-0.2 and 0.03-0.07 g dry matter (g biomass)'yr-1, respectively.