Comparing tropical forest tree size distributions with the predictions of metabolic ecology and equilibrium models

Muller‐Landau, Helene C.; Condit, Richard; Harms, Kyle E.; Marks, Christian O.; Thomas, Sean C.; Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh; Chuyong, George B.; Co, Leonardo; Davies, Stuart J.; Foster, Robin B.; Gunatilleke, Savitri; Gunatilleke, Nimal; Hart, Térese B.; Hubbell, Stephen P.; Itoh, Akira; Kassim, Abd Rahman; Kenfack, David; LaFrankie, James V.; Lagunzad, Daniel; Lee, Hua Seng; Losos, Elizabeth; Makana, Jean‐Remy; Ohkubo, Tadayasu; Samper, Cristián; Sukumar, Raman; Sun, I‐Fang; Supardi, M. N. Nur; Tan, Sylvester; Thomas, Duncan W.; Thompson, Jill; Valencia, Renato; Vallejo, Martha Isabel; Muñoz, Gorky Villa; Yamakura, Takuo; Zimmerman, Jess K.; Dattaraja, Handanakere Shavaramaiah; Esufali, Shameema; Hall, Pamela; He, Fangliang; Hernández, Consuelo; Kiratiprayoon, Somboon; Suresh, H. S.; Wills, Christopher; Ashton, Peter S.

doi:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2006.00915.x

Cited by 177 publications

(298 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Batista et al (2001) and Fang and Bailey (1998) also found better performance of non-linear height-diameter models in other tropical forests. The Weibull model has been widely used to describe tree allometric relationships, especially for modeling height-diameter relationships (Batista et al, 2001;Fang and Bailey, 1998;Muller-Landau et al, 2006). The site specific height-diameter Weibull and Chapman-Richards models (AIC from pooled model with the altitude effect in the Table 3) had better performance than the pooled model fit using the full database (AIC from pooled model without the altitude effect in the Table 2).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Height-diameter relationships of tropical Atlantic moist forest trees in southeastern Brazil

Scaranello¹,

Alves

Vieira³

et al. 2012

Sci. agric. (Piracicaba, Braz.)

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Site-specific height-diameter models may be used to improve biomass estimates for forest inventories where only diameter at breast height (DBH) measurements are available. In this study, we fit height-diameter models for vegetation types of a tropical Atlantic forest using field measurements of height across plots along an altitudinal gradient. To fit height-diameter models, we sampled trees by DBH class and measured tree height within 13 one-hectare permanent plots established at four altitude classes. To select the best model we tested the performance of 11 height-diameter models using the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). The Weibull and ChapmanRichards height-diameter models performed better than other models, and regional site-specific models performed better than the general model. In addition, there is a slight variation of heightdiameter relationships across the altitudinal gradient and an extensive difference in the stature between the Atlantic and Amazon forests. The results showed the effect of altitude on tree height estimates and emphasize the need for altitude-specific models that produce more accurate results than a general model that encompasses all altitudes. To improve biomass estimation, the development of regional height-diameter models that estimate tree height using a subset of randomly sampled trees presents an approach to supplement surveys where only diameter has been measured.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Height-diameter relationships of tropical Atlantic moist forest trees in southeastern Brazil

Scaranello¹,

Alves

Vieira³

et al. 2012

Sci. agric. (Piracicaba, Braz.)

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“…Recently, Coomes et al (45) and Muller-Landau et al (42) argued that ''Demographic Theory'' (21,24,46) is a better alternative to metabolic scaling theory for understanding size distributions, because there may be deviations from the power-law behavior. We disagree and emphasize three points:…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1 and 4; see also ref. 42). These last two deviations are likely due to violation of the assumption that all mortality is due to competitive thinning.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extensions and evaluations of a general quantitative theory of forest structure and dynamics

Enquist

West

Brown

2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

242

297

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Here, we present the second part of a quantitative theory for the structure and dynamics of forests under demographic and resource steady state. The theory is based on individual-level allometric scaling relations for how trees use resources, fill space, and grow. These scale up to determine emergent properties of diverse forests, including size-frequency distributions, spacing relations, canopy configurations, mortality rates, population dynamics, successional dynamics, and resource flux rates. The theory uniquely makes quantitative predictions for both stand-level scaling exponents and normalizations. We evaluate these predictions by compiling and analyzing macroecological datasets from several tropical forests. The close match between theoretical predictions and data suggests that forests are organized by a set of very general scaling rules. Our mechanistic theory is based on allometric scaling relations, is complementary to ''demographic theory,'' but is fundamentally different in approach. It provides a quantitative baseline for understanding deviations from predictions due to other factors, including disturbance, variation in branching architecture, asymmetric competition, resource limitation, and other sources of mortality, which are not included in the deliberately simplified theory. The theory should apply to a wide range of forests despite large differences in abiotic environment, species diversity, and taxonomic and functional composition.allometry ͉ mortality rate ͉ plant ecology ͉ size distribution ͉ competitive thinning U nderstanding the key forces that shape the structure, function, and dynamics of ecosystems is a fundamental goal of ecology (1-6). Current approaches to plant communities focus on questions such as what allows for species coexistence (7), why tropical sites have more species than temperate ones (8), and what environmental factors determine the structure, dynamics, and species composition of communities (9). Detailed models have been developed to integrate how species-specific traits ''scale-up'' to inf luence community and ecosystem dynamics (10, 11).Here, we present a complementary but alternative approach. We use a few key principles to show how variation in resource supply together with general cross-taxa patterns of plant architecture and growth give rise to predictable emergent patterns of resource use, spatial structure, and demography. In our previous article (12) we incorporated these principles to derive the first part of a general quantitative theory for the structure and dynamics of a single-species stand. In this article we evaluate these predictions, using data from several tropical forests composed of multiple tree species including: (i) a 20-year record from Costa Rica (13); (ii) a 10-year time series from Panama; (iii) a 40-year survey from a Malaysian forest dataset; (iv) and a successional sequence of Costa Rican forests ranging from recently abandoned pasture to mature uncut forests (14) (for methodology and additional detail, see supporting information (SI) Tex...

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“…As the aim of this study was to test the effects of logging on demographic and genetic parameters, it was important that populations show demographic stability during control simulations before testing the effects of logging. Although research has shown that tropical lowland forests may not necessarily be in equilibrium, a review of 14 large-scale tropical forest plots showed that in most forests, size distributions are much closer to predictions of demographic equilibrium, with intersite variation in size distributions explained partly by intersite variation in growth and mortality (Muller-Landau et al, 2006). Assuming that the studied population is at equilibrium, the control simulation should not show significant demographic change over the simulation period.…”

Section: Control and Selective Logging Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term impacts of selective logging on two Amazonian tree species with contrasting ecological and reproductive characteristics: inferences from Eco-gene model simulations

et al. 2014

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The impact of logging and subsequent recovery after logging is predicted to vary depending on specific life history traits of the logged species. The Eco-gene simulation model was used to evaluate the long-term impacts of selective logging over 300 years on two contrasting Brazilian Amazon tree species, Dipteryx odorata and Jacaranda copaia. D. odorata (Leguminosae), a slow growing climax tree, occurs at very low densities, whereas J. copaia (Bignoniaceae) is a fast growing pioneer tree that occurs at high densities. Microsatellite multilocus genotypes of the pre-logging populations were used as data inputs for the Eco-gene model and post-logging genetic data was used to verify the output from the simulations. Overall, under current Brazilian forest management regulations, there were neither short nor long-term impacts on J. copaia. By contrast, D. odorata cannot be sustainably logged under current regulations, a sustainable scenario was achieved by increasing the minimum cutting diameter at breast height from 50 to 100 cm over 30-year logging cycles. Genetic parameters were only slightly affected by selective logging, with reductions in the numbers of alleles and single genotypes. In the short term, the loss of alleles seen in J. copaia simulations was the same as in real data, whereas fewer alleles were lost in D. odorata simulations than in the field. The different impacts and periods of recovery for each species support the idea that ecological and genetic information are essential at species, ecological guild or reproductive group levels to help derive sustainable management scenarios for tropical forests.

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Comparing tropical forest tree size distributions with the predictions of metabolic ecology and equilibrium models

Cited by 177 publications

References 49 publications

Height-diameter relationships of tropical Atlantic moist forest trees in southeastern Brazil

Height-diameter relationships of tropical Atlantic moist forest trees in southeastern Brazil

Extensions and evaluations of a general quantitative theory of forest structure and dynamics

Long-term impacts of selective logging on two Amazonian tree species with contrasting ecological and reproductive characteristics: inferences from Eco-gene model simulations

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