Abstract

The turnover of fine roots in northern coniferous forests has conventionally been assumed to be rapid, in line with results from sequential coring in the late 1970s in a Swedish Scots pine stand (SWECON project) where a rate of 7.4 year(-1) was estimated. New quantifications of the root respiration in other stands motivated a recalculation of the SWECON data; an indirect estimation of the turnover rate was much slower, about 2.1 year(-1). As a consequence, fine-root production is considered to be much lower than in previous estimates. Furthermore, direct observations of Norway spruce fine roots (< 1 mm) from minirhizotrons in Sweden, including a site close to the SWECON site, indicated a slower estimate, with fine-root turnover rate of 0.9 year

Published in

Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research
2007, volume: 22, number: 4, pages: 299-303
Publisher: TAYLOR & FRANCIS AS

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