Dead organic matter calibration

The CBM-CFS3 provides an explicit connection between the dynamics of biomass and dead organic matter (DOM) including soil pools. Biomass components, including foliage, branches, stemwood, coarse and fine roots, are transferred to DOM pools in different proportions that reflect the course of natural stand development. These proportions change dramatically in response to different types of disturbances (such as harvesting or stand-replacing fire) and the timing of the disturbances.  DOM dynamics are modeled using several pools including snag stemwood and branches, coarse woody debris, dead coarse and fine roots, and pools for the organic and mineral soil horizons. Current research goals of the carbon accounting team directed towards improving the representation of DOM in the CBM-CFS3 include:

1. Improving the representation of snag dynamics that may differ depending on disturbance type, species and region
2. Refining decay parameters for DOM pools and their response to climatic variables
3. Stratifying soils into groups based on criteria relevant to carbon stocks and dynamics, and calibrating and validating parameters for each soil group