 Moving beyond simple linear allometric relationships between tree height and diameterMichael S. Watt and Miko U.F. Kirschbaum Ecological Modelling, 2011, vol. 222, issue 23, 3910-3916 Abstract: Allometric relationships are used across a broad range of ecological disciplines as they provide a convenient means of scaling height (H) as a function of diameter (D). In these functions, it is commonly assumed that log transformed diameters and heights are linearly related, with a constant slope across environmental gradients. It is also widely thought that the elastic similarity model, in which H∝D2/3, holds true for all tree species, as this is a functional relationship that describes mechanical stability under self weight. Despite the wide use of these functions, little research has undertaken a rigorous intra-species evaluation of the applicability of these functions or the underlying theory. Here, we evaluate the applicability of these models to measurements from Pinus radiata plots covering broad intra and inter-stand environmental variation, and refine these models to make them more generally applicable. We used observations from 84 plots situated throughout New Zealand that had been measured repeatedly throughout stand development. Keywords: Allometry; Diameter; Elastic similarity model; Environmental impacts; Height; Stocking (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:222:y:2011:i:23:p:3910-3916 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2011.10.011 Access Statistics for this article Ecological Modelling is currently edited by Brian D. Fath More articles in Ecological Modelling from Elsevier |
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