title: Testing metabolic ecology theory for allometric scaling of tree size, growth and mortality in tropical forests.
abstract: The theory of metabolic ecology predicts specific relationships among tree stem diameter, biomass, height, growth and mortality. As demographic rates are important to estimates of carbon fluxes in forests, this theory might offer important insights into the global carbon budget, and deserves careful assessment. We assembled data from 10 old-growth tropical forests encompassing censuses of 367 ha and > 1.7 million trees to test the theory's predictions. We also developed a set of alternative predictions that retained some assumptions of metabolic ecology while also considering how availability of a key limiting resource, light, changes with tree size. Our results show that there are no universal scaling relationships of growth or mortality with size among trees in tropical forests. Observed patterns were consistent with our alternative model in the one site where we had the data necessary to evaluate it, and were inconsistent with the predictions of metabolic ecology in all forests.
authors.forename: Helene C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Muller-Landau
authors.forename: Richard S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Condit
authors.forename: Jerome
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chave
authors.forename: Sean C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Stephanie A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Bohlman
authors.forename: Sarayudh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bunyavejchewin
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.forename: Savitri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gunatilleke
authors.forename: Nimal
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gunatilleke
authors.forename: Kyle E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Harms
authors.forename: Terese
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hart
authors.forename: Stephen P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Hubbell
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Itoh
authors.forename: Abd Rahman
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Kassim
authors.forename: James V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: LaFrankie
authors.forename: Hua Seng
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Losos
authors.forename: Jean-Remy
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Makana
authors.forename: Tatsuhiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohkubo
authors.forename: Raman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sukumar
authors.forename: I-Fang
authors.initials: IF
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: M N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Nur Supardi
authors.forename: Sylvester
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Renato
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Valencia
authors.forename: Gorky Villa
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wills
authors.forename: Takuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamakura
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chuyong
authors.forename: Handanakere Shivaramaiah
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Dattaraja
authors.forename: Shameema
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Esufali
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.forename: Consuelo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hernandez
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kenfack
authors.forename: Somboon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kiratiprayoon
authors.forename: Hebbalalu S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Suresh
authors.forename: Duncan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Martha Isabel
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Vallejo
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ashton
mesh_terms: D001699:Biometry; D004463:Ecology; D005544:Forecasting; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009026:Mortality; D011157:Population Dynamics; D014197:Trees / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism*; D014329:Tropical Climate