Whether respiration in trees can scale isometrically with bole surface area: A test of hypothesis

Vladimir L. Gavrikov

Ecological Modelling, 2015, vol. 312, issue C, 318-321

Abstract: Respiration measurements of whole tree have been reported to give evidence that the relative respiration per volume/mass unit decreases with increase in tree size. Based on published datasets, a hypothesis that the relative respiration per area unit in trees can be independent of tree surface area was tested. There is a gap in the published data when the allometric studies of tree size do not intercept with studies on tree respiration. The indirect comparison showed that the scaling exponents, volume vs. surface area and respiration vs. stem volume, are slightly larger than they should be for the hypothesis to hold. The data studied showed that the relative respiration per area unit slightly increases with increase in tree surface area. Possible explanations of the relationship include a different distribution of metabolically active parts of stem and higher nitrogen content in larger trees. Also, the published datasets might include large fast growing trees which had higher growth respiration. To close the data gap, an experiment is required in which the respiration measurements should be performed for the same data as the measurements of scaling between stem volume and surface area.

Keywords: Allometric model; Stem surface area; Respiration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:312:y:2015:i:c:p:318-321

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2015.06.010

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