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New formula and conversion factor to compute tree species basic wood density from a global wood technology database

View ORCID ProfileGhislain Vieilledent, Fabian Jörg Fischer, Jérôme Chave, Daniel Guibal, Patrick Langbour, Jean Gérard
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/274068
Ghislain Vieilledent
1Cirad, UPR Foret et Societes, F-34398 Montpellier, France
2Forêt et Sociétés, Univ Montpellier, Cirad, Montpellier, France
3Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Bio-economy unit, I-21027 Ispra, Italy
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  • ORCID record for Ghislain Vieilledent
  • For correspondence: ghislain.vieilledent@Cirad.fr
Fabian Jörg Fischer
4UMR 5174 Laboratoire Evolution et Diversite Biologique, Universite Paul Sabatier, CNRS, IRD, Toulouse, France
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Jérôme Chave
4UMR 5174 Laboratoire Evolution et Diversite Biologique, Universite Paul Sabatier, CNRS, IRD, Toulouse, France
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Daniel Guibal
5Cirad, UPR BioWooEB, F-34398 Montpellier, France
6BioWooEB, Univ Montpellier, Cirad, Montpellier, France
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Patrick Langbour
5Cirad, UPR BioWooEB, F-34398 Montpellier, France
6BioWooEB, Univ Montpellier, Cirad, Montpellier, France
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Jean Gérard
5Cirad, UPR BioWooEB, F-34398 Montpellier, France
6BioWooEB, Univ Montpellier, Cirad, Montpellier, France
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Abstract

Premise of the study Basic wood density is an important ecological trait for woody plants. It is used to characterize species performance and fitness in community ecology, and to compute tree and forest biomass in carbon cycle studies. While wood density has been historically measured at 12% moisture, it is convenient for ecological purposes to convert this measure to basic wood density, i.e. the ratio of dry mass over green volume. Basic wood density can then be used to compute tree dry biomass from living tree volume.

Methods Here, we derive a new, exact formula to compute the basic wood density Db from the density at moisture content w denoted Dw, the fibre saturation point S, and the volumetric shrinkage coefficient R. We estimated a new conversion factor using a global wood technology database where values to use this formula are available for 4022 trees collected in 64 countries (mostly tropical) and representing 872 species.

Key results We show that previous conversion factors used to convert densities at 12% moisture into basic wood densities are inconsistent. Based on theory and data, we found that basic wood density could be inferred from the density at 12% moisture using the following formula: Db = 0.828D122. This value of 0.828 provides basic wood density estimates 4-5% smaller than values inferred from previous conversion factors.

Conclusions This new conversion factor should be used to derive basic wood densities in global wood density databases. This would prevent overestimating global forest carbon stocks and allow predicting better tree species community dynamics from wood density.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
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Posted July 01, 2018.
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New formula and conversion factor to compute tree species basic wood density from a global wood technology database
Ghislain Vieilledent, Fabian Jörg Fischer, Jérôme Chave, Daniel Guibal, Patrick Langbour, Jean Gérard
bioRxiv 274068; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/274068
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New formula and conversion factor to compute tree species basic wood density from a global wood technology database
Ghislain Vieilledent, Fabian Jörg Fischer, Jérôme Chave, Daniel Guibal, Patrick Langbour, Jean Gérard
bioRxiv 274068; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/274068

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