title: Self-thinning and community persistence in a simple size-structured dynamical model of plant growth.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronics and Information, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy. dercole@elet.polimi.it
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dercole
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Niklas
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rand
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D017753:Ecosystem; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D008954:Models, Biological; D014197:Trees / Q000254:growth & development*