Rotting wood releases up to 10.9 gigatons of carbon, equivalent to 115% of fossil fuel emissions, an international research team reports.
Continents with warmer and wetter climates release much more carbon than continents with temperate climates. In this case, the rate of wood decomposition and the participation of insects and microorganisms in this process are of no small importance. Tropical forests therefore account for 93% of all the carbon released by rotting wood, said study co-author Professor David Lindenmayer from the Australian National University.
This global research project covered 55 forest areas on six continents.
Russian specialists from Roslesinforg analyzed forests on the territory of the Russian Federation and came to the conclusion that the forests of the Caucasus and Crimea accumulated the most carbon, and the total amount of gas emitted by forests is 44.8 gigatons. Quantitative assessment of carbon reserves was carried out in above-ground and underground phytomass, in wood dendrite – dead wood, dead wood.