title: Biomass allocation to leaves, stems and roots: meta-analyses of interspecific variation and environmental control.
abstract: We quantified the biomass allocation patterns to leaves, stems and roots in vegetative plants, and how this is influenced by the growth environment, plant size, evolutionary history and competition. Dose-response curves of allocation were constructed by means of a meta-analysis from a wide array of experimental data. They show that the fraction of whole-plant mass represented by leaves (LMF) increases most strongly with nutrients and decreases most strongly with light. Correction for size-induced allocation patterns diminishes the LMF-response to light, but makes the effect of temperature on LMF more apparent. There is a clear phylogenetic effect on allocation, as eudicots invest relatively more than monocots in leaves, as do gymnosperms compared with woody angiosperms. Plants grown at high densities show a clear increase in the stem fraction. However, in most comparisons across species groups or environmental factors, the variation in LMF is smaller than the variation in one of the other components of the growth analysis equation: the leaf area : leaf mass ratio (SLA). In competitive situations, the stem mass fraction increases to a smaller extent than the specific stem length (stem length : stem mass). Thus, we conclude that plants generally are less able to adjust allocation than to alter organ morphology.
authors.affiliation: Plant Sciences (IBG2), Forschungszentrum Jülich, D-52425 Jülich, Germany.
authors.forename: Hendrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Poorter
authors.affiliation: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Karl J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Niklas
authors.affiliation: University of Minnesota, 1530 Cleveland Avenue North, St. Paul, MN 55108 USA.|Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia.
authors.forename: Peter B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Reich
authors.affiliation: University of Minnesota, 1530 Cleveland Avenue North, St. Paul, MN 55108 USA.|Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Dendrology, Parkowa 5, 62-035 Kornik, Poland.
authors.forename: Jacek
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Oleksyn
authors.affiliation: School of Plant Biology, University of Western Australia & Science Division, Department of Environment and Conservation, Perth, Crawley WA 6009, Australia.
authors.forename: Pieter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Poot
authors.affiliation: Nature Conservation and Plant Ecology Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, the Netherlands.|Department of Experimental Plant Ecology, Radboud University, PO Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Liesje
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mommer
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000254:growth & development*; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000254:growth & development*; D018547:Plant Stems / Q000254:growth & development*; D013045:Species Specificity
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