think climate. think change.
Department of Climate Change
Roger M. Gifford, October 2000
Documents are available for downloading as PDF files. (PDF help)
If you are unable to access this document please contact us to organise a suitable alternative format.
This document replaces and extends Gifford (1999) -National Carbon Accounting System Technical Report No. 7, Carbon Content of Woody Roots. The replacement is necessitated by a subsequent update of the % carbon (C) and % nitrogen (N) values adopted for the material used as a routine calibration standard in the elemental analyser used in this investigation. The %C contents of dry matter for woody roots having diameters between 4mm and 300mm were determined for diverse forest and woodland tree species from Queensland, NSW and the ACT. The average %C content of woody root for 23 species examined was 49% with a standard deviation of 1%. The range of species-averages was from 46.7% to 51.2% but this study was not designed to assess whether statistically significant differences exist between species. However, it seems likely that any apparent species differences would be heavily confounded with, and difficult to distinguish from, a strong influence of environment on %C within the range that it varies. There was no trend in the value of %C with root diameter between 10mm and 300mm. Fine root for poplar box communities and radiata pine (<2mm diameter) had a %c content about 3 percentage points lower than that of coarse woody root, although for the poplar box community about half the fine root was of grass species.
