Age characteristics of coarse woody debris (Pinus strobus) in a lake littoral zone

Littoral coarse woody debris (CWD) is a persistent class of aquatic habitat that accumulates over many centuries and provides habitat for diverse floral and faunal communities. We used dendrochronological methods to analyze residence times and age-related characteristics of eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) CWD in the littoral zone of Swan Lake in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario. The mean calendar date of all the annual rings in CWD samples was 1551. Annual rings dated from calendar year 1893 to 982. The mean time from carbon assimilation in a live tree to carbon loss from littoral woody debris was 443 years. Outside ring dates of the woody debris were significantly correlated with the bole's maximum and minimum diameter ratio, mass, specific gravity, length, and submergence. Negative exponential functions described the temporal structure of the CWD mass and abundance. Accelerated inputs of woody debris resulted from late nineteenth century logging and a disturbance circa 1500. No mature eastern white pine have fallen into the lake over the last 100 years.