Biomass dynamics in young silver birch stands on post-agricultural lands in Central Poland

The paper analyses the production and allocation of biomass in young, spontaneoussilver birch afforestation occurring on post-agricultural lands in the Mazowszeregion (central Poland). We investigated 114 sample plots of age varying from 1 to 19 years. During the first 15 years after their establishment on abandoned farmland, the naturally regenerated silver birch stands produced on average approximately 75 tons of dry biomass per hectare. The major (50–70%) part of this biomass was stored in the tree stems and this share increased with age. The fractions of biomass in the foliage and roots decreased over time, while the share of biomass in the branches remained rather constant. The significant age-dependency of the allometric relationships suggested the need to use age-sensitive biomass expansion factors to estimate the biomass from the stem volume.