Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard Foundation, August 2009

1. Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard Foundation, August 2009 Ulrike Hagemann, Dresden University of Technology Impact of natural and anthropogenic disturbance on carbon dynamics in Labrador black spruce forest ecosystems

2. Climate change, carbon and forests Forest, forest management and disturbance

3. Boreal forests X http://www.gohlkeweb.com

4. Original study objectives • Quantify carbon storage along a harvest and fire chronosequence of boreal forest stands in Labrador in comparison with old-growth stands. • Provide field data for validation & calibration of the CBM-CFS3 model. • Enhance the understanding of the C cycle of Labrador high-boreal forests • Quantify the amount of dead wood and its respiration. • Quantify the contribution of moss and lichen to the carbon cycle. • Analyse the spatial variability of soil respiration and its drivers.

5. ? ? Old-Growth Burn 21yrs Burn 35yrs Burn 1yr Old-Growth Harvest 1yr Harvest 17yrs Harvest 35yrs Study sites CHRONOSEQUENCE

6. CO2 CO2 Field study 2006-2009 Soil respiration Carbon inventory Moss growth, composition & decomposition Forest inventory (NFI) Dead wood inventory & Dead wood respiration Buried dead wood inventory

7. What exactly? Moss growth Dead wood C stocks Soil C efflux Moss decomposition Dead wood C efflux Ground vegetation dynamics Buried wood age

8. Atmosphere Stemwood Stemwood Snag stems Snag stems Bark, branches and submerchantable trees Bark, branches and submerchantable trees Snag branches Medium DOM Snag branches Fast DOM Foliage Foliage Very fast DOM Slow DOM Fine roots Fine roots Coarse roots Coarse roots Fast DOM Slow DOM Very fast DOM What to do with all the data? … model validation and calibration

9. How about some results? … a “new” process J. Gleißner

10.  New large uninvestigated C pool with mid- to long-term storage Dig deeper … research yet to come • Dead wood burial around the world? Rates? • Preservation of buried wood? • Ecological relevance of buried wood? Where is the relevance?

11. Acknowledgements Supervised by: Prof. Dr. habil. F. Makeschin, Institute of Soil Science and Site Ecology, TU Dresden Martin T. Moroni, PhD, Atlantic Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service Wade Bowers, PhD, Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, Memorial University of Newfoundland John T. Drover, P.Eng., Government of Newfoundland and Labrador In cooperation with: Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Natural Resources Innu Nation Environment Office College of the North Atlantic (CONA) Centre of Environmental Excellence (CEE) Funded by: Government of Canada, Research Scholarship German National Academic Foundation, PhD Scholarship Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard Foundation, Research Scholarship Atlantic Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service Institute for Biodiversity, Ecosystem Science and Sustainability (IBES) Forest Management District 19a / Model Forest of Newfoundland and Labrador

12. ... in reality it is a family enterprise – WE are getting a PhD!