The Elemental Composition of Dead Wood in Different Tree Species and Stages of Decay in the Broad-Leaved Forests of the Kaluzhskie Zaseki State Nature Reserve

Abstract

The content and mass concentration of eight chemical elements Al, Ca, Cu, K, Mg, Mn, P, and Zn were analysed in dead wood of eight tree species at five stages of decomposition. Wood samples were taken at the site of the massive windfall of 2006 in a multispecies broadleaved forest in the Kaluzhskie Zaseki nature reserve. Deadwood of seven deciduous tree species was studied: Norway maple (Acer platanoides), birch (Betula pendula), common ash (Fraxinus excelsior), common aspen (Populus tremula), English oak (Quercus robur), linden (Tilia cordata), Scotch elm (Ulmus glabra), as well as one coniferous tree species – Norway spruce (Picea abies). A series of one-way analyses of variance was carried out to assess the influence of the species and the stage of deadwood decomposition (including the zero stage for control samples) on the density, content of elements, and their mass concentration. Tree species most clearly differed in the content and mass concentration of Mn, Zn, Mg, Ca, and K: R² varied from 50 to 23% for the content and from 53 to 19% for the mass concentration of elements of the indicated series. The leaders in the content of these elements were the following species: Mn—maple, birch, spruce, linden; Zn—birch and aspen; Mg—maple, elm; Ca— elm; K—linden, elm. The stages of wood decomposition turned out to be a significant factor of variation for the content of Mn, P, Cu, Zn and Ca: R² varied from 22 to 16%. During the destruction of wood trunks, a significant increase in the content of these elements occurred. Maintenance of cycles of biophilic elements is more successfully implemented in the presence of deadwood of different types at different stages of decomposition.