Comparing tropical forest tree size distributions with the predictions of metabolic ecology and equilibrium models.
Tropical forests vary substantially in the densities of trees of different sizes and thus in above-ground biomass and carbon stores. However, these tree size distributions show fundamental similarities suggestive of underlying general principles. The theory of metabolic ecology predicts that tree abundances will scale as the -2 power of diameter. Demographic equilibrium theory explains tree abundances in terms of the scaling of growth and mortality. We use demographic equilibrium theory to derive analytic predictions for tree size distributions corresponding to different growth and mortality functions. We test both sets of predictions using data from 14 large-scale tropical forest plots encompassing censuses of 473 ha and > 2 million trees. The data are uniformly inconsistent with the predictions of metabolic ecology. In most forests, size distributions are much closer to the predictions of demographic equilibrium, and thus, intersite variation in size distributions is explained partly by intersite variation in growth and mortality.
Muller-Landau
Helene C
HC
Condit
Richard S
RS
Harms
Kyle E
KE
Marks
Christian O
CO
Thomas
Sean C
SC
Bunyavejchewin
Sarayudh
S
Chuyong
George
G
Co
Leonardo
L
Davies
Stuart
S
Foster
Robin
R
Gunatilleke
Savitri
S
Gunatilleke
Nimal
N
Hart
Terese
T
Hubbell
Stephen P
SP
Itoh
Akira
A
Kassim
Abd Rahman
AR
Kenfack
David
D
LaFrankie
James V
JV
Lagunzad
Daniel
D
Lee
Hua Seng
HS
Losos
Elizabeth
E
Makana
Jean-Remy
JR
Ohkubo
Tatsuhiro
T
Samper
Cristian
C
Sukumar
Raman
R
Sun
I-Fang
IF
Nur Supardi
M N
MN
Tan
Sylvester
S
Thomas
Duncan
D
Thompson
Jill
J
Valencia
Renato
R
Vallejo
Martha Isabel
MI
Muñoz
Gorky Villa
GV
Yamakura
Takuo
T
Zimmerman
Jess K
JK
Dattaraja
Handanakere Shavaramaiah
HS
Esufali
Shameema
S
Hall
Pamela
P
He
Fangliang
F
Hernandez
Consuelo
C
Kiratiprayoon
Somboon
S
Suresh
Hebbalalu S
HS
Wills
Christopher
C
Ashton
Peter
P
D018533:Biomass; D001699:Biometry; D002244:Carbon / Q000378:metabolism; D005544:Forecasting; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009026:Mortality; D014197:Trees / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism*; D014329:Tropical Climate
D002244:Carbon