Wood Biomass and Carbon Pools within a Floodplain Forest of the Congaree River, South Carolina, USA

Abstract

Riverine forests support high rates of plant productivity, yet total wood carbon (C) stocks in these systems remain understudied. We measured C concentrations and dry mass of live and dead detrital wood to understand their importance relative to total ecosystem C storage across an elevation gradient on the floodplain of the Congaree River. Our study sites included a low elevation bald cypress swamp and three higher elevation mature mixed bottomland hardwood communities. Average wood C concentration was 45.9 ± 0.07% and estimated cumulative C pools (sum of downed and standing dead wood plus live tree, sapling, and shrub wood) ranged from 6850 to 17,200 g C/m2 for bottomland hardwood forests and 17,700 g C/m2 for the bald cypress swamp. Most of the aboveground C was stored in living wood (83.1–90.5% total aboveground pools). Our results indicate that the mass and C stored in live and dead wood are at the high end of both measured and modeled ranges reported in the literature for temperate zone forests. As such, the mature bottomland forests of the Congaree River represent a substantial and important store of sequestered C.