Testing metabolic ecology theory for allometric scaling of tree size, growth and mortality in tropical forests.
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.
Muller-Landau
Helene C
HC
Condit
Richard S
RS
Chave
Jerome
J
Thomas
Sean C
SC
Bohlman
Stephanie A
SA
Bunyavejchewin
Sarayudh
S
Davies
Stuart
S
Foster
Robin
R
Gunatilleke
Savitri
S
Gunatilleke
Nimal
N
Harms
Kyle E
KE
Hart
Terese
T
Hubbell
Stephen P
SP
Itoh
Akira
A
Kassim
Abd Rahman
AR
LaFrankie
James V
JV
Lee
Hua Seng
HS
Losos
Elizabeth
E
Makana
Jean-Remy
JR
Ohkubo
Tatsuhiro
T
Sukumar
Raman
R
Sun
I-Fang
IF
Nur Supardi
M N
MN
Tan
Sylvester
S
Thompson
Jill
J
Valencia
Renato
R
Muñoz
Gorky Villa
GV
Wills
Christopher
C
Yamakura
Takuo
T
Chuyong
George
G
Dattaraja
Handanakere Shivaramaiah
HS
Esufali
Shameema
S
Hall
Pamela
P
Hernandez
Consuelo
C
Kenfack
David
D
Kiratiprayoon
Somboon
S
Suresh
Hebbalalu S
HS
Thomas
Duncan
D
Vallejo
Martha Isabel
MI
Ashton
Peter
P
D001699:Biometry; D004463:Ecology; D005544:Forecasting; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009026:Mortality; D011157:Population Dynamics; D014197:Trees / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism*; D014329:Tropical Climate