Distribution of Root Biomass in a Low-shrub Pine Bog

The average stump and below-ground biomass of pine was 1464 g/m(2); 4% as fine roots (circle divide<1 mm), 18% small roots (circle divide= 1-10 mm), 49% large roots (circle divide>10 mm), and 29% stumps), which comprised 35% of the total biomass in the Scots pine stands. The average root length of pine was 728 m/m(2): 71 % of this length was fine roots, 29% was small roots, and less than 1 % was large roots. Most of the fine pine roots (80%) were in the 0-10 cm peat layer. The root biomass of the field layer was 548 g/m(2), which comprised 47 % of the total field layer biomass. Characteristic features of the root systems were: high below-ground/above-ground ratios, rather low amounts of root biomass, shallow rooting, and relatively thin roots. Hummocks tended to have less roots in the 0-10 cm layer and more roots in the 10-20 cm layer than the hollows.