Study
Climate fails to predict wood decomposition at regional scales
Bradford, M. A.; Warren, R. J.; Baldrian, P.; Crowther, T. W.; Maynard, D. S.; Oldfield, E. E.; Wieder, W. R.; Wood, S. A.; King, J. R.
Nature Climate Change, 2014
Standardised wood blocks were placed at many sites across a large climate gradient and recovered after a set period, so that decay rate could be compared against temperature and moisture with the wood itself held constant.
- Studied in
- Basidiomycota, Ascomycota
- Sample size
- wood blocks placed across sites spanning a climate gradient
Climate explained much less of the variation in decay than models assume. Which decomposer community happened to colonise a block mattered more than the temperature it sat at.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Wood decomposition at regional scales is governed substantially by decomposer community composition rather than by climate alone, which carbon models do not represent.
How NatureHQ reads it
A reminder that decomposition is done by organisms, not by weather. Two identical blocks in the same climate can go at very different rates because different fungi arrived, and which fungus arrives is partly chance. It is also why carbon models that treat decay as a temperature function carry an error nobody can currently size, and why deadwood in a forest is a habitat question as much as a chemistry question.
- Standardised blocks are not whole trunks; size and bark strongly affect real deadwood.
- One region and one substrate type.
- Identifies the importance of community composition without predicting which community will arrive.
Identical blocks of wood, left in very different weather
Is how fast wood rots a question about the climate, or about which fungi happen to turn up?
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
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Published by: Nature PortfolioPublished in a Nature Portfolio journal.
This reference was resolved automatically against Crossref and OpenAlex on 2026-08-30.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-08-30.