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Dead trees are vital structural elements in forests playing key roles in the carbon and nutrient cycle. Stem traits and fungal community composition are both important drivers of stem decay, and thereby affect ecosystem functioning, but their relative importance for stem decomposition over time remains unclear. To address this issue, we used a common garden decomposition experiment in a Dutch larch forest hosting fresh logs from 13 common temperate tree species. In total 25 fresh wood and bark traits were measured as indicators of wood accessibility for decomposers, nutritional quality, and chemical or physical defense mechanisms. After one and four years of decay, we assessed the richness and composition of wood-inhabiting fungi using amplicon sequencing and determined the proportional wood density loss. Average proportional wood density loss for the first year was 18.5%, with further decomposition occurring at a rate of 4.3% yr-1 for the subsequent three years across tree species. Proportional wood density loss varied widely across tree species in the first year (8.7-24.8% yr-1) and subsequent years (0-11.3% yr-1). The variation was directly driven by initial wood traits during the first decay year, then later directly driven by bark traits and fungal community composition. Moreover, bark traits affected the composition of wood-inhabiting fungi and thereby indirectly affected decomposition rates. Specifically, traits promoting resource acquisition of the living tree, such as wide conduits that increase accessibility and high nutrient concentration, increased initial wood decomposition rates. Fungal community composition, but not fungal richness explained differences in wood decomposition after four years of exposure in the field, where fungal communities dominated by brown-rot and white-rot Basidiomycetes were linked to higher wood decomposition rate. Synthesis. Understanding what drives deadwood decomposition through time is important to understand the dynamics o, Dead trees are vital structural elements in forests playing key roles in the carbon and nutrient cycle. Stem traits and fungal community composition are both important drivers of stem decay, and thereby affect ecosystem functioning, but their relative importance for stem decomposition over time remains unclear. To address this issue, we used a common garden decomposition experiment in a Dutch larch forest hosting fresh logs from 13 common temperate tree species. In total 25 fresh wood and bark traits were measured as indicators of wood accessibility for decomposers, nutritional quality, and chemical or physical defense mechanisms. After one and four years of decay, we assessed the richness and composition of wood-inhabiting fungi using amplicon sequencing and determined the proportional wood density loss. Average proportional wood density loss for the first year was 18.5%, with further decomposition occurring at a rate of 4.3% yr-1 for the subsequent three years across tree species. Proportional wood density loss varied widely across tree species in the first year (8.7-24.8% yr-1) and subsequent years (0-11.3% yr-1). The variation was directly driven by initial wood traits during the first decay year, then later directly driven by bark traits and fungal community composition. Moreover, bark traits affected the composition of wood-inhabiting fungi and thereby indirectly affected decomposition rates. Specifically, traits promoting resource acquisition of the living tree, such as wide conduits that increase accessibility and high nutrient concentration, increased initial wood decomposition rates. Fungal community composition, but not fungal richness explained differences in wood decomposition after four years of exposure in the field, where fungal communities dominated by brown-rot and white-rot Basidiomycetes were linked to higher wood decomposition rate. Synthesis. Understanding what drives deadwood decomposition through time is important to understand the dynamics o

Dead trees are vital structural elements in forests playing key roles in the carbon and nutrient cycle. Stem traits and fungal community composition are both important drivers of stem decay, and thereby affect ecosystem functioning, but their relative importance for stem decomposition over time remains unclear.To address this issue, we used a common garden decomposition experiment in a Dutch larch forest hosting fresh logs from 13 common temperate tree species. In total, 25 fresh wood and bark traits were measured as indicators of wood accessibility for decomposers, nutritional quality and chemical or physical defence mechanisms. After 1 and 4 years of decay, we assessed the richness and composition of wood-inhabiting fungi using amplicon sequencing and determined the proportional wood density loss.Average proportional wood density loss for the first year was 18.5%, with further decomposition occurring at a rate of 4.3% year−1 for the subsequent 3 years across tree species. Proportional wood density loss varied widely across tree species in the first year (8.7–24.8% year−1) and subsequent years (0–11.3% year−1). The variation was directly driven by initial wood traits during the first decay year, then later directly driven by bark traits and fungal community composition. Moreover, bark traits affected the composition of wood-inhabiting fungi and thereby indirectly affected decomposition rates. Specifically, traits promoting resource acquisition of the living tree, such as wide conduits that increase accessibility and high nutrient concentration, increased initial wood decomposition rates. Fungal community composition, but not fungal richness explained differences in wood decomposition after 4 years of exposure in the field, where fungal communities dominated by brown-rot and white-rot Basidiomycetes were linked to higher wood decomposition rate.Synthesis: Understanding what drives deadwood decomposition through time is importa

Dead trees are vital structural elements in forests playing key roles in the carbon and nutrient cycle. Stem traits and fungal community composition are both important drivers of stem decay, and thereby affect ecosystem functioning, but their relative importance for stem decomposition over time remains unclear. To address this issue, we used a common garden decomposition experiment in a Dutch larch forest hosting fresh logs from 13 common temperate tree species. In total, 25 fresh wood and bark traits were measured as indicators of wood accessibility for decomposers, nutritional quality and chemical or physical defence mechanisms. After 1 and 4 years of decay, we assessed the richness and composition of wood-inhabiting fungi using amplicon sequencing and determined the proportional wood density loss. Average proportional wood density loss for the first year was 18.5%, with further decomposition occurring at a rate of 4.3% year−1 for the subsequent 3 years across tree species. Proportional wood density loss varied widely across tree species in the first year (8.7–24.8% year−1) and subsequent years (0–11.3% year−1). The variation was directly driven by initial wood traits during the first decay year, then later directly driven by bark traits and fungal community composition. Moreover, bark traits affected the composition of wood-inhabiting fungi and thereby indirectly affected decomposition rates. Specifically, traits promoting resource acquisition of the living tree, such as wide conduits that increase accessibility and high nutrient concentration, increased initial wood decomposition rates. Fungal community composition, but not fungal richness explained differences in wood decomposition after 4 years of exposure in the field, where fungal communities dominated by brown-rot and white-rot Basidiomycetes were linked to higher wood decomposition rate. Synthesis: Understanding what drives deadwood decomposition through time is important to understand the dynamics of carb

Previous studies showed that bark cover at early-decay stage had profound control on the invertebrate assemblages of bark and wood, with possible consequence for the decomposition process. However, previous experimental designs could not disentangle how bark versus wood traits affect the invertebrate assemblage process in bark and/or wood separately because wood traits of different tree species may vary independently from bark traits. Furthermore, we do not know whether such tree species-specific bark trait effects are still influential at mid-decay stage. To unravel whether and how bark and wood traits influence invertebrate communities in tree logs at mid-decay stage, we introduce reciprocal bark transplantation within pairs of different tree species as a new method. We applied this method to two pairs of phylogenetically contrasting species of gymnosperms (pair I: Araucaria araucana and Cryptomeria japonica, pair II: Picea abies and Thuja plicata) and another gymnosperm (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana) set as disturbance control to test for potential bark manipulation artefacts on invertebrate community composition. Our bark exchange experiment revealed that both bark and wood host abundant and divergent subsets of invertebrates on mid-decay logs of different tree species. We further documented that the invertebrate community composition was predominantly shaped by the traits of host tissue per se, while also being significantly but less strongly affected by the traits of the other tissue, that is, the adjacent bark or wood. Our results indicated that bark trait effects faded with time and how long bark trait effects persist greatly depends on bark thickness. Synthesis. Our study suggests that maintaining deadwood heterogeneity related to variation between tree species and bark versus wood, is important for nursing a large biodiversity of invertebrates. Combined with bark removal methodology, our bark exchange method can be further extended to more decay stages and mor

Revealing the ecological consequences of bark multifunctionality and its underlying traits has become a relatively new but essential focus in plant ecology. Although the enormous differences between the most crucial bark layers, that is, inner and outer bark, in structure and functions have been widely recognized, the overall bark has been regarded as a homogenous tissue in most bark-related studies. This has led to poor knowledge on the functional independence, specialized contributions and possible linkages of inner and outer bark traits across tree species when further evaluating the crucial ecosystem functions that bark provides, especially in driving variation in bark decomposition. To fill this research gap, we used a ‘common garden experiment’ on deadwood of six gymnosperms in a temperate forest in the Netherlands over 4 years of decomposition. We evaluated the differences and associations between the inner and outer bark in initial functional traits, decomposition rates and afterlife effects of traits in driving in situ bark decomposition across tree species at the earlier decomposition stage. We report four main findings: (1) inner and outer bark traits varied significantly and were not coordinated across tree species; (2) correspondingly, the decomposition of the inner and outer bark were asynchronous and not coordinated across species and inner bark generally decomposed faster than outer bark; (3) the strong predictive traits driving bark decomposability were bark layer-specific, with several inner bark traits controlling inner bark decomposition rates but outer bark decomposability being poorly predicted by outer bark traits and (4) besides being controlled by inner bark traits, inner bark decomposition was also indirectly regulated by several functional traits and the structure-related trait spectrum of outer bark. Synthesis. This is the first study that has linked functional traits, decomposability and afterlife effects of the inner and outer bark w

1. Previous studies showed that bark cover at early-decay stage had profound control on the invertebrate assemblages of bark and wood, with possible consequence for the decomposition process. However, previous experimental designs could not disentangle how bark versus wood traits affect the invertebrate assemblage process in bark and/or wood separately because wood traits of different tree species may vary independently from bark traits. Furthermore, we do not know whether such tree species specific bark trait effects are still influential at mid-decay stage. 2. To unravel whether and how bark and wood traits influence invertebrate communities in tree logs at mid-decay stage, we introduce reciprocal bark transplantation within pairs of different tree species as a new method. We applied this method to two pairs of phylogenetically contrasting species of gymnosperms (pair I: Araucaria araucana and Cryptomeria japonica, pair II: Picea abies and Thuja plicata) and another gymnosperm (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana) set as disturbance control to test for potential bark manipulation artefacts on invertebrate community composition. 3. Our bark exchange experiment revealed that both bark and wood host abundant and divergent subsets of invertebrates on mid-decay logs of different tree species. We further documented that the invertebrate community composition was predominantly shaped by the traits of host tissue per se, while also being significantly but less strongly affected by the traits of the other tissue, i.e. the adjacent bark or wood. Our results indicated that bark trait effects faded with time and how long bark trait effects persist greatly depends on bark thickness. 4. Synthesis. Our study suggests that maintaining deadwood heterogeneity related to variation between tree species, and to bark versus wood, is important for nursing a large biodiversity of invertebrates. Combined with bark removal methodology, our bark exchange method can be further extended to more decay st

Revealing the ecological consequences of bark multifunctionality and its underlying traits has become a relatively new but essential focus in plant ecology. Although the enormous differences between the most crucial bark layers, that is, inner and outer bark, in structure and functions have been widely recognized, the overall bark has been regarded as a homogenous tissue in most bark-related studies. This has led to poor knowledge on the functional independence, specialized contributions and possible linkages of inner and outer bark traits across tree species when further evaluating the crucial ecosystem functions that bark provides, especially in driving variation in bark decomposition. To fill this research gap, we used a ‘common garden experiment’ on deadwood of six gymnosperms in a temperate forest in the Netherlands over 4 years of decomposition. We evaluated the differences and associations between the inner and outer bark in initial functional traits, decomposition rates and afterlife effects of traits in driving in situ bark decomposition across tree species at the earlier decomposition stage. We report four main findings: (1) inner and outer bark traits varied significantly and were not coordinated across tree species; (2) correspondingly, the decomposition of the inner and outer bark were asynchronous and not coordinated across species and inner bark generally decomposed faster than outer bark; (3) the strong predictive traits driving bark decomposability were bark layer-specific, with several inner bark traits controlling inner bark decomposition rates but outer bark decomposability being poorly predicted by outer bark traits and (4) besides being controlled by inner bark traits, inner bark decomposition was also indirectly regulated by several functional traits and the structure-related trait spectrum of outer bark. Synthesis. This is the first study that has linked functional traits, decomposability and afterlife effects of the inner and outer bark w

Revealing the ecological consequences of bark multifunctionality and its underlying traits has become a relatively new but essential focus in plant ecology. Although the enormous differences between the most crucial bark layers, i.e., inner and outer bark, in structure and functions have been widely recognized, the overall bark has been regarded as a homogenous tissue in most bark-related studies. This has led to poor knowledge on the functional independence, specialized contributions and possible linkages of inner and outer bark traits across tree species when further evaluating the crucial ecosystem functions that bark provides, especially in driving variation in bark decomposition. To fill this research gap, we used a “common garden experiment” on deadwood of six gymnosperms in a temperate forest in the Netherlands over four years of decomposition. We evaluated the differences and associations between inner and outer bark in initial functional traits, decomposition rates and afterlife effects of traits in driving in-situ bark decomposition across tree species at the earlier decomposition stage. We report four main findings: 1) inner and outer bark traits varied significantly and were not coordinated across tree species; 2) correspondingly, the decomposition of inner and outer bark were asynchronous and not coordinated across species and inner bark generally decomposed faster than outer bark; 3) the strong predictive traits driving bark decomposability were bark layer-specific, with several inner bark traits controlling inner bark decomposition rates but outer bark decomposability being poorly predicted by outer bark traits; 4) besides being controlled by inner bark traits, inner bark decomposition was also indirectly regulated by several functional traits and the structure-related trait spectrum of outer bark. Synthesis. This is the first study that has linked functional traits, decomposability and afterlife effects of inner and outer bark within the bark quantit, Revealing the ecological consequences of bark multifunctionality and its underlying traits has become a relatively new but essential focus in plant ecology. Although the enormous differences between the most crucial bark layers, i.e., inner and outer bark, in structure and functions have been widely recognized, the overall bark has been regarded as a homogenous tissue in most bark-related studies. This has led to poor knowledge on the functional independence, specialized contributions and possible linkages of inner and outer bark traits across tree species when further evaluating the crucial ecosystem functions that bark provides, especially in driving variation in bark decomposition. To fill this research gap, we used a “common garden experiment” on deadwood of six gymnosperms in a temperate forest in the Netherlands over four years of decomposition. We evaluated the differences and associations between inner and outer bark in initial functional traits, decomposition rates and afterlife effects of traits in driving in-situ bark decomposition across tree species at the earlier decomposition stage. We report four main findings: 1) inner and outer bark traits varied significantly and were not coordinated across tree species; 2) correspondingly, the decomposition of inner and outer bark were asynchronous and not coordinated across species and inner bark generally decomposed faster than outer bark; 3) the strong predictive traits driving bark decomposability were bark layer-specific, with several inner bark traits controlling inner bark decomposition rates but outer bark decomposability being poorly predicted by outer bark traits; 4) besides being controlled by inner bark traits, inner bark decomposition was also indirectly regulated by several functional traits and the structure-related trait spectrum of outer bark. Synthesis. This is the first study that has linked functional traits, decomposability and afterlife effects of inner and outer bark within the bark quantit

Deadwood is an important carbon stock and nutrient pool both in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, while it is also vital to help nurse the world’s biodiversity. Disentangling the factors dominating the deadwood decay process and how they interact with each other at different decay stages can help us to better predict how the ecosystem carbon stock and biodiversity response to the global climate change and to make preparations for the potential challenges. Deadwood decomposition is a long and complex process affected by diverse biotic and abiotic drivers; the dominant factors may change with, for instance, habitat, tree species, decay stages, and climate zones. In my thesis, I mainly focused on the decay dynamics of different tissue types within logs both within and across tree species, and how these variables interact with environmental factors in controlling microbial and invertebrate community compositions at different decay stages. To disentangle the interactive contributions of these factors on decay rates and biodiversity associated with tree logs, we have conducted two sets of long term in situ decomposition studies in an alpine forest and two environmentally contrasting temperate forests. In the alpine forest, the deadwood of Abies faxoniana, the dominant tree species in this region, was selected to answer (1) How do the decay trajectories and decay rates of bark, sapwood, and heartwood vary with forest spatial heterogeneity (Q1)? (2) How do biotic and abiotic factors interact to affect microbial community composition in decaying bark, sapwood and heartwood (Q3)? I mainly answered Q1 in Chapter 2. The results showed forest canopy cover significantly stimulated decay rates and altered the best-fit decay models of bark and sapwood. In contrast, heartwood decayed faster at the forest edge than in the other two positions within forest and followed a single exponential as the only best-fit decay model across forest locations. The results also showed that bark ge

Deadwood is an important carbon stock and nutrient pool both in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, while it is also vital to help nurse the world’s biodiversity. Disentangling the factors dominating the deadwood decay process and how they interact with each other at different decay stages can help us to better predict how the ecosystem carbon stock and biodiversity response to the global climate change and to make preparations for the potential challenges. Deadwood decomposition is a long and complex process affected by diverse biotic and abiotic drivers; the dominant factors may change with, for instance, habitat, tree species, decay stages, and climate zones. In my thesis, I mainly focused on the decay dynamics of different tissue types within logs both within and across tree species, and how these variables interact with environmental factors in controlling microbial and invertebrate community compositions at different decay stages. To disentangle the interactive contributions of these factors on decay rates and biodiversity associated with tree logs, we have conducted two sets of long term in situ decomposition studies in an alpine forest and two environmentally contrasting temperate forests. In the alpine forest, the deadwood of Abies faxoniana, the dominant tree species in this region, was selected to answer (1) How do the decay trajectories and decay rates of bark, sapwood, and heartwood vary with forest spatial heterogeneity (Q1)? (2) How do biotic and abiotic factors interact to affect microbial community composition in decaying bark, sapwood and heartwood (Q3)? I mainly answered Q1 in Chapter 2. The results showed forest canopy cover significantly stimulated decay rates and altered the best-fit decay models of bark and sapwood. In contrast, heartwood decayed faster at the forest edge than in the other two positions within forest and followed a single exponential as the only best-fit decay model across forest locations. The results also showed that bark ge

The importance of wood decay for global carbon and nutrient cycles is widely recognized. However, relatively little is known about bark decay dynamics, even though bark represents up to 25% of stem dry mass. Moreover, bark presence versus absence can significantly alter wood decay rates. Therefore, it really matters for the fate of carbon whether variation in bark and wood decay rates is coordinated across tree species. Answering this question requires advances in methodology to measure both bark and wood mass loss accurately. Decay rates of large logs in the field are often quantified as loss in tissue density, in which case volume depletions of bark and wood can yield large underestimations. To quantify the real decay rates, we assessed bark mass loss per stem surface area and wood mass loss based on volume‐corrected density loss. We further defined the range of actual bark mass loss by considering bark cover loss. Then, we tested the correlation between bark and wood mass loss across 20 temperate tree species during 4 years of decomposition. The area‐based method generally showed more than 3‐fold higher bark mass loss than the density‐based method (even higher if considering bark cover loss), and volume‐corrected wood mass losses were 1.08–1.12 times higher than density‐based mass loss. The deviation of bark mass loss between the two methods was higher for tree species with thicker inner bark. Bark generally decomposed twice as fast as wood across species, and faster decaying bark came with faster decaying wood (R2 = 0.26, p = 0.006). We strongly suggest using corrected volume when assessing wood mass loss especially for the species with faster decomposable sapwood and all the wood at advanced decay stages. Further studies of coarse stem decomposition should consider trait ‘afterlife’ effects of inner bark and estimate fraction of stem bark cover to obtain more accurate decay rates. Our new method should benefit our understanding of the in sit

Deadwood decomposition plays a crucial role in global carbon and nutrient cycles. Factors controlling deadwood decomposition at local scales could also have strong effects at broader scales. We tested how trait variation within stems (i.e. tissue types) and forest habitat heterogeneity (i.e. location within forest) together influence the deadwood decay trajectory and decay rate. We conducted an in situ decomposition experiment of Abies faxoniana logs in an alpine forest on the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, decomposing logs from a series of decay classes I-III (on a 5-class scale) for five years on the forest floor in canopy gap, gap edge and under closed canopy (each sized 25 ± 3 × 25 ± 3 m). We found strong differences in density and chemical composition between tissue types at least across decay classes I-III, which revealed the distinct contribution of each tissue type to carbon and nutrient cycling. There were remarkable interactions of tissue types and locations within forest. We found bark always decomposed faster than wood, while heartwood can decompose faster than sapwood in canopy edge and canopy gap. Locations within forest influenced the best fit decay model and decay rate of bark and sapwood in the same way, while it had no corresponding effects for heartwood decay dynamics. The largest difference in T0.25 and T0.4 (time to 25% and 40% mass loss) between locations were 1.52 and 3.21 (bark), 19.41 and 37.61 (wood overall), 31.82 and 60.15 (sapwood), and 12.86 and 22.84 (heartwood), respectively. We also found that pH was significantly negatively related with sapwood and heartwood mass loss, demonstrating that pH can potentially be applied to evaluate sapwood and heartwood mass loss when density correction is difficult to achieve at least at early to mid-decay stages. However, whether pH is a powerful predictor of decomposition trajectory across more species and biomes remains to be tested. We strongly recommend that further mod

Deadwood decomposition plays a crucial role in global carbon and nutrient cycles. Factors controlling deadwood decomposition at local scales could also have strong effects at broader scales. We tested how trait variation within stems (i.e. tissue types) and forest habitat heterogeneity (i.e. location within forest) together influence the deadwood decay trajectory and decay rate. We conducted an in situ decomposition experiment of Abies faxoniana logs in an alpine forest on the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, decomposing logs from a series of decay classes I-III (on a 5-class scale) for five years on the forest floor in canopy gap, gap edge and under closed canopy (each sized 25 ± 3 × 25 ± 3 m). We found strong differences in density and chemical composition between tissue types at least across decay classes I-III, which revealed the distinct contribution of each tissue type to carbon and nutrient cycling. There were remarkable interactions of tissue types and locations within forest. We found bark always decomposed faster than wood, while heartwood can decompose faster than sapwood in canopy edge and canopy gap. Locations within forest influenced the best fit decay model and decay rate of bark and sapwood in the same way, while it had no corresponding effects for heartwood decay dynamics. The largest difference in T0.25 and T0.4 (time to 25% and 40% mass loss) between locations were 1.52 and 3.21 (bark), 19.41 and 37.61 (wood overall), 31.82 and 60.15 (sapwood), and 12.86 and 22.84 (heartwood), respectively. We also found that pH was significantly negatively related with sapwood and heartwood mass loss, demonstrating that pH can potentially be applied to evaluate sapwood and heartwood mass loss when density correction is difficult to achieve at least at early to mid-decay stages. However, whether pH is a powerful predictor of decomposition trajectory across more species and biomes remains to be tested. We strongly recommend that further mod

1. The importance of wood decay for the global carbon and nutrient cycles is widely recognized. However, relatively little is known about bark decay dynamics, even though bark represents up to 25% of stem dry mass. Moreover, bark presence versus absence can significantly alter wood decay rates. Therefore, it really matters for the fate of carbon whether variation in bark and wood decay rates is coordinated across tree species. 2. Answering this question requires advances in methodology to measure both bark and wood mass loss accurately. Decay rates of large logs in the field are often quantified as loss in tissue density, in which case volume depletions of bark and wood can give large underestimations. 3. To quantify the real decay rates, we assessed bark mass loss per stem surface area and wood mass loss based on volume-corrected density loss. We further defined the range of actual bark mass loss by considering bark cover loss. Then, we tested the correlation between bark and wood mass loss across 20 temperate tree species during 4 years of decomposition. 4. The area-based method generally showed more than 3-fold higher bark mass loss than the density-based method (even higher if considering bark cover loss), and volume-corrected wood mass losses were 1.08-1.12 times higher than density-based mass loss. The deviation of bark mass loss between the two methods was higher for tree species with thicker inner bark. Bark generally decomposed twice as fast as wood across species, and faster decaying bark came with faster decaying wood (R2=0.26, P=0.006). 5. We strongly suggest using corrected volume when assessing wood mass loss especially for the species with faster decomposable sapwood and all the wood at advanced decay stages. Further studies of coarse stem decomposition should consider trait “afterlife” effects of inner bark and estimate fraction of stem bark cover to obtain more accurate decay rates. 6. Our new method should benefit our understanding of the in situ d, 1. The importance of wood decay for the global carbon and nutrient cycles is widely recognized. However, relatively little is known about bark decay dynamics, even though bark represents up to 25% of stem dry mass. Moreover, bark presence versus absence can significantly alter wood decay rates. Therefore, it really matters for the fate of carbon whether variation in bark and wood decay rates is coordinated across tree species. 2. Answering this question requires advances in methodology to measure both bark and wood mass loss accurately. Decay rates of large logs in the field are often quantified as loss in tissue density, in which case volume depletions of bark and wood can give large underestimations. 3. To quantify the real decay rates, we assessed bark mass loss per stem surface area and wood mass loss based on volume-corrected density loss. We further defined the range of actual bark mass loss by considering bark cover loss. Then, we tested the correlation between bark and wood mass loss across 20 temperate tree species during 4 years of decomposition. 4. The area-based method generally showed more than 3-fold higher bark mass loss than the density-based method (even higher if considering bark cover loss), and volume-corrected wood mass losses were 1.08-1.12 times higher than density-based mass loss. The deviation of bark mass loss between the two methods was higher for tree species with thicker inner bark. Bark generally decomposed twice as fast as wood across species, and faster decaying bark came with faster decaying wood (R2=0.26, P=0.006). 5. We strongly suggest using corrected volume when assessing wood mass loss especially for the species with faster decomposable sapwood and all the wood at advanced decay stages. Further studies of coarse stem decomposition should consider trait “afterlife” effects of inner bark and estimate fraction of stem bark cover to obtain more accurate decay rates. 6. Our new method should benefit our understanding of the in situ d

The importance of wood decay for global carbon and nutrient cycles is widely recognized. However, relatively little is known about bark decay dynamics, even though bark represents up to 25% of stem dry mass. Moreover, bark presence versus absence can significantly alter wood decay rates. Therefore, it really matters for the fate of carbon whether variation in bark and wood decay rates is coordinated across tree species. Answering this question requires advances in methodology to measure both bark and wood mass loss accurately. Decay rates of large logs in the field are often quantified as loss in tissue density, in which case volume depletions of bark and wood can yield large underestimations. To quantify the real decay rates, we assessed bark mass loss per stem surface area and wood mass loss based on volume-corrected density loss. We further defined the range of actual bark mass loss by considering bark cover loss. Then, we tested the correlation between bark and wood mass loss across 20 temperate tree species during 4 years of decomposition. The area-based method generally showed more than 3-fold higher bark mass loss than the density-based method (even higher if considering bark cover loss), and volume-corrected wood mass losses were 1.08–1.12 times higher than density-based mass loss. The deviation of bark mass loss between the two methods was higher for tree species with thicker inner bark. Bark generally decomposed twice as fast as wood across species, and faster decaying bark came with faster decaying wood (R2 = 0.26, p = 0.006). We strongly suggest using corrected volume when assessing wood mass loss especially for the species with faster decomposable sapwood and all the wood at advanced decay stages. Further studies of coarse stem decomposition should consider trait ‘afterlife’ effects of inner bark and estimate fraction of stem bark cover to obtain more accurate decay rates. Our new method should benefit our understanding of the in situ dynamics of woody

Epixylic vegetation may be important in dead wood decay by altering the microenvironment and, thereby, microbial communities in logs. However, the interaction between epixylic vegetation and dead wood microbial communities remains poorly known. Therefore, repeated experimental epixylic (bryophyte-dominated) vegetation removal (ERM) from logs of the fir Abies faxoniana across a wide range of decay classes (I–V) was conducted on the eastern Tibetan Plateau. The dynamics of the microbial community were separately measured in heartwood, sapwood and bark using the phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA) method. Our results showed that the effects of ERM on the microbial community depended greatly on the three log components and sampling seasons but less on decay class. (1) The absence of epixylic vegetation generally enhanced the total microbial biomass and Sørensen similarity in bark, whereas it had a more complicated effect on those in heartwood and sapwood. Specifically, the response to ERM became progressively stronger from winter until the late growing season. (2) ERM increased the total percentage of Gram-negative bacteria and fungi in heartwood and upper side sapwood and decreased their percentages in bark. (3) The moisture content and pH of the logs were good predictors and likely drivers of the dynamic patterns of the microbial community composition. Our findings demonstrate strong and partly consistent interactions between epixylic vegetation and microbial communities. Further in-depth research should reveal how these interactions feed back to the decomposition process of logs and thereby to carbon and nutrient cycles in the alpine forest ecosystem.

Epixylic vegetation may be important in dead wood decay by altering the microenvironment and, thereby, microbial communities in logs. However, the interaction between epixylic vegetation and dead wood microbial communities remains poorly known. Therefore, repeated experimental epixylic (bryophyte-dominated) vegetation removal (ERM) from logs of the fir Abies faxoniana across a wide range of decay classes (I–V) was conducted on the eastern Tibetan Plateau. The dynamics of the microbial community were separately measured in heartwood, sapwood and bark using the phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA) method. Our results showed that the effects of ERM on the microbial community depended greatly on the three log components and sampling seasons but less on decay class. (1) The absence of epixylic vegetation generally enhanced the total microbial biomass and Sørensen similarity in bark, whereas it had a more complicated effect on those in heartwood and sapwood. Specifically, the response to ERM became progressively stronger from winter until the late growing season. (2) ERM increased the total percentage of Gram-negative bacteria and fungi in heartwood and upper side sapwood and decreased their percentages in bark. (3) The moisture content and pH of the logs were good predictors and likely drivers of the dynamic patterns of the microbial community composition. Our findings demonstrate strong and partly consistent interactions between epixylic vegetation and microbial communities. Further in-depth research should reveal how these interactions feed back to the decomposition process of logs and thereby to carbon and nutrient cycles in the alpine forest ecosystem.