Self-thinning and community persistence in a simple size-structured dynamical model of plant growth.
This paper presents a size-structured dynamical model of plant growth. The model takes the form of a partial differential-integral equation and includes the effects of self- shading by leaves. Closed form solutions are presented for the equilibrium size density distribution. Analytic conditions are derived for community persistence, and the self-thinning exponent is obtained as a function of species characteristics and environmental conditions.
Dercole
F
F
Department of Electronics and Information, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy. dercole@elet.polimi.it
Niklas
K
K
Rand
R
R
D003198:Computer Simulation; D017753:Ecosystem; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D008954:Models, Biological; D014197:Trees / Q000254:growth & development*