Interspecific differences in wood decay rates: insights from a new short-term method to study long-term wood decomposition

1. While the importance of wood decay for the global carbon balance is widely recognized, surprisingly little is known about its long-term dynamics and its abiotic and biotic drivers. Progress in this field is hindered by the long time-scales inherent to the low decay rates of wood and the lack of short-term methods to assess long-term decomposition dynamics in standardized field conditions.