Dead wood diversity in a Norway spruce forest from the Calimani National Park (Eastern Carpathians)

Abstract

The role of dead wood in forests encompasses the preservation of biodiversity, the productivity, and the storage of carbon. In this study, we aimed to investigate the variation of the dead wood volume in a subalpine Norway spruce forests. Using a regular grid, the size of the wood, ordered in a five-class scale for snags and logs and a six-class scale for stumps, was recorded. The relationship between the dead wood volume and site respectively stand characteristics by some predictive factors (stand age, altitude, human influence and site productivity) was modelled using mixed linear/nonlinear models. Dead wood volume (74.3 m3·ha-1) accounted for 18.3% of the volume (live trees and dead wood). Regarding the dead wood only, snags amounted to 44.8% of the volume and logs and stumps amounted to 46.5, and 8.7%, respectively. Snags (57.5% of the total) and logs (42.8%), were most common in the 2nd decay class, while stumps were most common in the 6th (51.2%). The distribution of the number of dead wood pieces, in terms of diameter, was obtained according to the Meyer theoretical distribution for snags and to the Gamma theoretical distribution for logs and stumps. This study completes the dead wood database from Norway spruce forests in the subalpine area to find the common features across the Carpathians Mountains. It contributes to the understanding of the dead wood dynamics in a young National Park, considering the year of establishment, consists of forests where forestry work was carried out and stands that were exempt from cutting.