Why Does Not the Leaf Weight-Area Allometry of Bamboos Follow the 3/2-Power Law?

Frontiers in Plant Science
Shuyan LinPei-Jian Shi

Abstract

The principle of similarity (Thompson, 1917) states that the weight of an organism follows the 3/2-power law of its surface area and is proportional to its volume on the condition that the density is constant. However, the allometric relationship between leaf weight and leaf area has been reported to greatly deviate from the 3/2-power law, with the irregularity of leaf density largely ignored for explaining this deviation. Here, we choose 11 bamboo species to explore the allometric relationships among leaf area (A), density (ρ), length (L), thickness (T), and weight (W). Because the edge of a bamboo leaf follows a simplified two-parameter Gielis equation, we could show that A ∝ L2 and that A ∝ T2. This then allowed us to derive the density-thickness allometry ρ ∝ T b and the weight-area allometry W ∝ A(b+3)/2 ≈ A9/8, where b approximates -3/4. Leaf density is strikingly negatively associated with leaf thickness, and it is this inverse relationship that results in the weight-area allometry to deviate from the 3/2-power law. In conclusion, although plants are prone to invest less dry mass and thus produce thinner leaves when the leaf area is sufficient for photosynthesis, such leaf thinning needs to be accompanied with elevated ...Continue Reading

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Citations

Sep 29, 2021·American Journal of Botany·Xuchen GuoKarl J Niklas

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
light microscopy

Software Mentioned

R Core Team
R

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