Surface Area Relations of Woody Plants and Forest Communities

Abstract

Surface area of wood and bark is an important dimension of forests, with implications for respiration rate, energy exchange, and water and mineral budgets. Surface area of stem wood and bark can be estimated effectively from linear regressions on conic surface (one‐half basal circumference times tree height) or from regressions of the logarithm of area on the logarithm of diameter at breast height. Branch surface can be estimated from a formula using branch basal diameter, length, and number of current twigs, and from logarithmic regressions of branch bark surface on basal diameter of branches and breast‐height diameter of trees. In temperate deciduous forests several square meters of plant surface occur above each square meter of ground surface; these plant surfaces include 0.3–0.6 m2 of stem bark, 1.2–2.2 m2 of branch bark, and 3.0–6.0 m2 of leaf blades. Branch bark surface increases more rapidly than leaf surface with increasing size of branches and trees. Growth and aging of trees, and maturation of forests, imply increasing ratios of bark (and wood) surface to the photosynthetic leaf surface which supports its growth and respiration.

Relationships of stem surface area to other stem dimensions for Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica D. Don) and Japanese cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa Endl.) trees

“…Thus, the linear equations of the surface area against the dbh and basal area (Satoo and Senda 1958;Swank and Schreuder 1974) were considered to be inadequate. In the allometric power relationship of the surface area to dbh (Whittaker and Woodwell 1967;Swank and Schreuder 1974), the dimensions of both sides in the equation were inconsistent, except in the special case when the allometric exponent was equal to two. For this reason, the allometric equation proposed by Whittaker and Woodwell (1967) and Swank and Schreuder (1974) was also regarded as being an inadequate expression.…”

“…Thus, the number of sample trees was 50 for both cedar and cypress trees. According to Whittaker and Woodwell (1967), it was common to have regressions fitted to data from as few as 10-20 trees. The number of samples collected in the present study fully satisfied this criterion.…”

“…To our knowledge, very few comparisons of the regression equations have been conducted (Swank and Schreuder 1974) and so far the studies on the difference in coefficients of the equation among species have been superficial (Whittaker and Woodwell 1967). Little is known about the relationship between the stem surface area and other stem dimensions.…”

“…The usual method for estimating the stem surface area has been by applying a regression equation between the surface area and other stem dimensions appropriate for the species and growing conditions . The diameter outside bark at breast height (dbh) (Satoo and Senda 1958;Whittaker and Woodwell 1967;Swank and Schreuder 1974), the basal area (Swank and Schreuder 1974;Kajihara 1978), and both the dbh and total tree height (Lexen 1943;Carron 1968;Takao and Minowa 1993) have been used as the independent variables of the regression equations. On the other hand, Matsui (1967) has approximated the stem surface area from the dbh and total tree height without regression.…”

Branch surface area and its vertical distribution in coastal Douglas-fir

“…Whittaker and Woodwell (1967) presented an equation based on branch divarication theory using measurements of branch basal diameter, branch length, the number of current twigs as branch termini, and mean diameter of current twigs. Jennings et al (1990) computed branch surface area as the area of a triangle with a height and base corresponding to length and maximum width, respectively.…”