Allometric scaling of plant energetics and population density
Article Abstract:
The thinning law in plant ecology can be explained in terms of how resources are used by individuals as a function of their size. It is shown that rates of resource use in individual plants scale as about the 3/4 power of body mass, the same as metabolic rates of animals. This relationships is used to create a mechanistic model for relationships between density and mass in resource limited plants. The average plant size is predicted to scale as the -4/3 power of maximum population density, implying that constraints on metabolic rate are reflected in the scaling of population density.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1998
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Allometric scaling of production and life-history variation in vascular plants
Article Abstract:
A theoretical framework for linking life-history variables to rates of production, dM/dt, where M is above-ground mass and t is time, is provided. A universal growth law that quantitatively fits data for a wide sample of tropical trees was derived with the inclusion of interspecific variation in resource allocation to wood density. The growth law predicts certain qualitative features of tree demography and reproduction.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1999
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Invariant scaling relations across tree-dominated communities
Article Abstract:
Research is presented describing the extension of allometric theory, and the testing of its predictions against international data regarding scaling relationships within tree-dominated communities. The research shows that even if the species diversity, biomass and abundance are very varied, tree-dominated communties have almost identical size-frequency distribution that reflect almost equivalent standing biomass.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 2001
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