Plant mass–density relationship along a moisture gradient in north‐west China

Deng, Jianming; Wang, Gen‐Xuan; Morris, E. Charles; Wei, Xiao-Ping; Li, Dong-Xiu; Chen, Baoming; Zhao, Changming; Liu, Jing; Wang, Yun

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2745.2006.01141.x

Cited by 119 publications

(184 citation statements)

References 43 publications

(66 reference statements)

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“…These results offer a different perspective from many studies that have emphasized how competitive and successional processes vary across plant taxa, life forms, and environmental conditions (21,22,(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(39)(40)(41)(42). They suggest to us that scaling exponents, when measured across orders of magnitude variation in plant size, are relatively independent of phylogenetic affiliation, growth habit, and abiotic environmental features.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 43%

“…Numbers of stems were counted and above-ground dry plant biomass was measured after harvesting reproductively mature plants on each plot. Leaf, stem, and reproductive tissue was oven-dried at 115°C for 30 min and then at 65°C for 48 h, and was weighed (27). Because the crops were harvested and weighed after the plants had matured, the temporal trajectories during the experiments cannot be shown.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For decades, plant scientists have debated the empirical form of the thinning line and the mechanisms that give rise to it (18,(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27). Much of the debate has revolved around the value of the exponent, α.…”

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Insights into plant size-density relationships from models and agricultural crops

Deng

Zuo

Wang

et al. 2012

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

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There is general agreement that competition for resources results in a tradeoff between plant mass, M, and density, but the mathematical form of the resulting thinning relationship and the mechanisms that generate it are debated. Here, we evaluate two complementary models, one based on the space-filling properties of canopy geometry and the other on the metabolic basis of resource use. For densely packed stands, both models predict that density scales as M −3/4 , energy use as M 0 , and total biomass as M 1/4 . Compilation and analysis of data from 183 populations of herbaceous crop species, 473 stands of managed tree plantations, and 13 populations of bamboo gave four major results: (i) At low initial planting densities, crops grew at similar rates, did not come into contact, and attained similar mature sizes; (ii) at higher initial densities, crops grew until neighboring plants came into contact, growth ceased as a result of competition for limited resources, and a tradeoff between density and size resulted in critical density scaling as M −0.78 , total resource use as M −0.02 , and total biomass as M 0.22 ; (iii) these scaling exponents are very close to the predicted values of M −3/4 , M 0 , and M 1/4 , respectively, and significantly different from the exponents suggested by some earlier studies; and (iv) our data extend previously documented scaling relationships for trees in natural forests to small herbaceous annual crops. These results provide a quantitative, predictive framework with important implications for the basic and applied plant sciences.allometric scaling | energy equivalence | plant energetics | self-thinning T he structure and dynamics of plant populations and communities often reflect the interacting consequences of three fundamental processes: (i) competition for resources, (ii) the effect of body size on resource use, and (iii) the effect of plant density on growth and mortality (1-4). Two approaches traditionally have been used to study these interactions. One focuses on theoretical models and empirical measurements of abundance, spacing, survival, mortality, and recruitment as functions of plant size in relatively undisturbed natural populations and communities, especially forests (4-11), where the thinning process is complicated by effects of shading and other factors on asymmetries in resource supply and resulting growth and mortality rates (11-16). The second approach focuses on the structure and dynamics of plants in agricultural settings (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22), where plants of nearly identical age grow under controlled conditions. Studies of such simplified agricultural systems have led to theoretical and empirical selfthinning relationships that characterize the temporal trajectory of decreasing population density as a function of increasing plant size as stands develop under conditions of resource limitation and competition (17)(18)(19). These exhibit a characteristic phenomenology in which plants grow with minimal mortality until they reach a size-dependent critical density, ...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 43%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Insights into plant size-density relationships from models and agricultural crops

Deng

Zuo

Wang

et al. 2012

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

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“…10 and 3 implies that mortality rate, , should be directly proportional to rates of limiting resource supply, Ṙ. Several recent field studies appear to support a positive relationship between rates of resource supply and rates of mortality (38)(39)(40)(41). Similarly, our model can be extended to understand how plant metabolism, allometry, and resource supply can influence maximum tree size, total stand biomass, and other ecosystem level processes (see SI Text).…”

Section: Empirical Results and Theoretical Extensionsmentioning

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.

246

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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“…This question has perplexed biogeographers and ecologists for about 100 years, and the diverse theories and hypotheses have been put forward to account for latitudinal gradients in biodiversity (Wright 1983;Rohde, 1992;Waide et al, 1999;Colwell & Lees, 2000;Gaston, 2000;Allen et al 2002;Hawkins et al, 2003;Willig et al 2003;Ricklefs, 2004;Mittelbach et al 2007;Gillooly& Allen, 2007;Storch et al 2007;Cardinale, et al, 2009), Recent decade, the metabolic theory of biodiversity (MTB) is developed and attracting a lot of attentions of ecologists as a novel hypothesis based on metabolic theory of ecology (MTE) and the energeticequivalence rule (West et al 1997(West et al , 1999Enquist et al 1998;Allen et al 2002Brown et al 2004;Deng et al 2006Deng et al , 2008. The MTB is recognized as a general principle that can quantify relationships between the dynamic processes of population and biodiversity patterns in ecosystem, and between species richness and environmental factors (see also Allen et al 2003Gillooly & Allen 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species Distribution Patterns, Species-Area and Species- Temperature Relationships in Eastern Asian Plants

Deng¹,

Zhang²

2012

Biodiversity Conservation and Utilization in a Diverse World

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Plant mass–density relationship along a moisture gradient in north‐west China

Cited by 119 publications

References 43 publications

Insights into plant size-density relationships from models and agricultural crops

Insights into plant size-density relationships from models and agricultural crops

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

Species Distribution Patterns, Species-Area and Species- Temperature Relationships in Eastern Asian Plants

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