A global map of wood density

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Abstract

Wood density influences how quickly woody plants grow, how long they live and how much carbon they store, yet its global variation remains poorly mapped. Here we combined 109,626 wood density measurements from 16,829 species with 300,949 vegetation plots to produce a km-scale map of community-weighted wood density for every woody biome. Our model led to a prediction accuracy 32–51 % higher than previous global products, and a 1.8–3.7-fold wider wood density range (0.28–1.00 g cm −3 ; global mean: 0.57 g cm −3 ) than previously assumed. Spatial cross-validation showed low bias (±2.5 % of the mean), and uncertainties decreased from 20% in poorly sampled drylands and boreal regions to 5% in data-rich temperate forests. Mean annual temperature was the best predictor of community-weighted mean wood density, increasing by 0.01 g cm −3 for every 1°C change. We deliver a low-bias, high-resolution wood density layer for Earth system models, together with spatially explicit error maps. This study represents a major step forward for carbon accounting and trait-based forecasts of vegetation change.

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