UP News - University of Potsdam

Media information 27-01-2026 / Nr. 012

Photo: Liana Kindermann
Scientist taking a wood core sample to determine the wood density of a tree.
Photo: Liana Kindermann (Der Bildhintergrund wurde mit KI-Technologien erweitert.)
Potsdam researchers from Prof. Dr. Anja Linstädter's research group (left) taking samples in Namibia.

The density of wood in trees and shrubs varies greatly – not only between different species, but also within a species, depending on where the plants grow. In order to better investigate how these differences arise, researchers from around the world have collected more than 100,000 data sets on wood density from over 16,000 plant species over many years and compiled them in a database that has been freely accessible since 2009. A research team from the University of Potsdam and the University of Namibia (UNAM) recently added important data sets from a region in southern Africa that were previously missing from the database. In a recent analysis of the data, the researchers were able to show, among other things, that plants growing in extreme environments have a higher wood density than their counterparts in other locations.

Wood density is an important plant functional trait in trees that is related to how they grow, compete with each other, survive or are affected by global changes all over the world. For example, dense wood is more stable and less susceptible to drought, but such hardwood species also grow much more slowly than fast-growing, light-wooded pioneer species. Data on biomass density in different tree species is also needed to estimate how much carbon is stored in woody vegetation and will be sequestered in the future. Wood density is therefore a key factor in predictions about the global carbon cycle and how ecosystems will change in the wake of climate change.

The Global Wood Density Database (GWDD) provides open access to wood density data from around the world. Recently, data gaps in the tropics and the global south have been significantly reduced by a newly published, updated version of the database (GWDD v.2). It currently contains over 100,000 data sets from more than 16,000 plant species. “With the help of GWDD v.2, scientists worldwide can now make more reliable estimates of the carbon content of tropical ecosystems and use the data for their own research. In an initial evaluation, we first looked for causes of variations in wood density within individuals, within species and across environmental gradients,” says Dr Liana Kindermann from the University of Potsdam. “In the future, we will investigate the role that wood density of species and even individual trees plays in ecosystems and to what extent it influences ecological coupling processes. We are also interested in whether functional characteristics such as wood density determine how useful certain tree species are to humans.”

The publication online: Fabian Jörg Fischer, Jérôme Chave, Amy Zanne, […] Magnus Dobler, Ezequiel Chimbioputo Fabiano, Liana Kindermann, Anja Linstädter et al.: Beyond Species Means – the Intraspecific Contribution to Global Wood Density Variation, New Phytologist https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70860
The database online: Fischer et al.: Global Wood Density Database v.2 (GWDD v.2), https://www.zenodo.org/records/18262736

Photos:
Abbildung 2_Foto-Liana Kindermann.JPG: Scientist taking a wood core sample to determine the wood density of a tree. Photo: Liana Kindermann
Abbildung 2_Foto-Liana Kindermann.JPG: Potsdam researchers from Prof. Dr. Anja Linstädter's research group (left) taking samples in Namibia. Photo: Liana Kindermann

Contact:
Dr. Liana Kindermann, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology
E-Mail: liana.kindermannuuni-potsdampde

Media information 27-01-2026 / Nr. 012