Brunette Girl Reveals Her Pink Scarf And A Necklace Outside On Remains Of A Dead Tree

Coarse woody debris and its subsequent decomposition recycles nutrients that are essential for living organisms, such as carbon, nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. Saprotrophic fungi and detritivores such as bacteria and insects directly consume dead wood, releasing nutrients by converting them into other forms of organic matter which may then be consumed by other organisms. CWD, while itself not particularly rich in nitrogen, contributes nitrogen to the ecosystem by acting as a host for nonsymbiotic free-living nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
Scientific studies show that coarse woody debris can be a significant contributor to biological carbon sequestration. Trees store atmospheric carbon in their wood using photosynthesis. Once the trees die, fungi and other saprotrophs transfer some of that carbon from CWD into the soil. This sequestration can continue in old-growth forests for hundreds of years.
• Habitat
By providing both food and microhabitats for many species, coarse woody debris helps to maintain the biodiversity of forest ecosystems. Up to forty percent of all forest fauna is dependent on CWD. Studies in western North America showed that only five per cent of living trees consisted of living cells by volume, whereas in dead wood it was as high as forty percent by volume, mainly fungi and bacteria. Colonizing organisms that live on the remains of cambium and sapwood of dead trees aid decomposition and attract predators that prey on them and so continue the chain of metabolizing the biomass.