akar.earthDead wood: Definition
What is dead wood in carbon accounting? Standing and lying dead wood, how it is measured with transects, and when Indonesian projects should include it.
Dead wood is the carbon pool made up of all non-living woody biomass not counted as litter: standing dead trees, fallen logs, stumps and large branches above a minimum diameter, often 10 cm. It is one of the five IPCC carbon pools.
Why it matters
In old-growth and logged forests, dead wood can hold a meaningful share of total carbon. Logging, fire and storms add dead wood that then decays and releases CO2 over years. REDD+ and improved forest management projects may include it, and baseline scenarios with heavy logging may show large dead-wood fluxes.
How it is measured
- Standing dead wood: measured in the same plots as live trees. Diameter and height go into allometry, with reductions for missing branches or broken tops.
- Lying dead wood: the line-intersect method samples pieces crossing a transect. Volume is calculated from piece diameters, then multiplied by a density that depends on the decay class (sound, intermediate or rotten).
- Conversion: dead biomass × carbon fraction × 44/12 gives CO2.
Methodologies often allow dead wood to be excluded if doing so is conservative. Our carbon pools guide explains those choices.
Indonesia angle
Dead wood matters most in Indonesian projects on logged-over dipterocarp forest, fire-affected peat swamp forest and concessions converting to protection. After the large peat fires of past dry seasons, burned stands left heavy dead-wood loads; see our peatland REDD+ guide. In smallholder ARR and agroforestry, dead wood is usually small and often collected as firewood, so exclusion is common.
Common mistakes
- Including dead wood without a decay-class density table, which overstates biomass for rotten pieces.
- Double counting stumps in both live-tree and dead-wood records.
- Assuming dead wood is stable; it decays steadily and can be removed by people.
Related terms
See litter, carbon pool and permanence, or browse the forest carbon hub.
Frequently asked questions
How is lying dead wood measured?
Usually with the line-intersect method: field teams measure the diameter of every piece crossing a transect line and assign a decay class, then convert volume to biomass using density by decay class.
Do ARR projects include dead wood?
Usually not. Dead wood is small in young plantings and most methodologies let ARR projects exclude it conservatively, unless existing dead wood is removed during site preparation.