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

Ecology Letters
Helene C Muller-LandauPeter S Ashton

Abstract

Tropical forests vary substantially in the densities of trees of different sizes and thus in above-ground biomass and carbon stores. However, these tree size distributions show fundamental similarities suggestive of underlying general principles. The theory of metabolic ecology predicts that tree abundances will scale as the -2 power of diameter. Demographic equilibrium theory explains tree abundances in terms of the scaling of growth and mortality. We use demographic equilibrium theory to derive analytic predictions for tree size distributions corresponding to different growth and mortality functions. We test both sets of predictions using data from 14 large-scale tropical forest plots encompassing censuses of 473 ha and > 2 million trees. The data are uniformly inconsistent with the predictions of metabolic ecology. In most forests, size distributions are much closer to the predictions of demographic equilibrium, and thus, intersite variation in size distributions is explained partly by intersite variation in growth and mortality.

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Citations

Apr 14, 2009·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Brian J EnquistJames H Brown
Apr 2, 2009·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·J P O'DwyerJ L Green
Mar 8, 2013·PloS One·Franziska TaubertAndreas Huth
May 17, 2008·Ecology·Ethan P WhiteJessica L Green
Oct 17, 2009·Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America·Denis VallePaul R Van Gardingen
Jun 1, 2012·Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America·Pierre PlotonPierre Couteron
Apr 9, 2010·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Filippo SiminiAmos Maritan
Jan 29, 2016·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Jorge VelázquezMarkus P Eichhorn
Nov 26, 2015·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Franziska TaubertAndreas Huth
Apr 3, 2007·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·Ethan P WhiteBrian J Enquist
May 21, 2009·Ecology Letters·Charles A PriceJoshua S Weitz
Jul 21, 2009·Ecology Letters·James R Kellner, Gregory P Asner
Sep 13, 2008·Ecology Letters·James C Stegen, Ethan P White
Mar 19, 2013·Global Change Biology·Stuart Joseph Wright
Sep 12, 2013·Global Change Biology·Bronson GriscomFrancis E Putz
Sep 22, 2006·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·David A Coomes
Jul 15, 2015·PloS One·Maria O HunterJuliana Schietti
Aug 19, 2015·Scientific Reports·J-F BastinJ Bogaert
May 13, 2011·Anais Da Academia Brasileira De Ciências·Fernanda C G CardosoMárcia C M Marques
Jun 7, 2017·The New Phytologist·Victoria MeakemKristina J Anderson-Teixeira
Feb 20, 2009·Nature·Helene C Muller-Landau
Sep 8, 2010·The New Phytologist·Charles A PriceKarl J Niklas
Mar 9, 2018·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Jessica NeedhamSean M McMahon
Sep 27, 2014·Global Change Biology·Kristina J Anderson-TeixeiraJess Zimmerman
Nov 21, 2019·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·James K McCarthyKarel Mokany
Apr 30, 2020·Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America·António FerrazDavid B Clark
Jan 18, 2019·Nature Communications·Daniel M PerkinsGabriel Yvon-Durocher

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