Declining wood density in a Tasmanian conifer limits its role in climate change mitigation

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Abstract

Although the ability of trees to store atmospheric carbon dioxide is widely acknowledged in climate change mitigation policies, few studies have examined how climate change influences wood density, which is a critical trait for carbon sequestration. Furthermore, the majority of research on forests and climate change has been conducted in the Northern Hemisphere, which excludes 35%–40% of the world’s forests. Therefore, to investigate the effect of observed climate change on the carbon storage capacity in a Southern Hemisphere tree species, we analysed 100 years of tree-ring data, collected from 1910 to 2010, from 12 King Billy pines ( Athrotaxis selaginoides D. Don) growing in northwestern Tasmania. SilviScan was used to obtain measurements of wood density and other anatomical trait data at the sub-annual time scale. Our analysis revealed a reduction in relative carbon accumulation over time due to a decline in mean wood density, from 0.418 g cm −3 in 1910 to 0.343 g cm −3 in 2010. This led to a 10% reduction in biomass and a subsequent reduction in carbon accumulation. The same overall difference of 10% has been shown between the carbon stock estimate conducted using the values from literature (0.341 g cm −3 ). If this decline were confirmed in other species, too, the magnitude of forests’ contribution to climate change mitigation as a carbon sink may need to be reconsidered.

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