Allometric Scaling of Production and Life History Variation in Vascular Plants

Brian J. Enquist, Geoffrey B. West, Eric L. Charnov and James H. Brown

Working Papers from Santa Fe Institute

Abstract: A prominent feature of comparative life histories in the well documented negative correlation between growth rate and life span [1,2]. Patterns of resource allocation during growth reflect life-history differences between species [1,2]. This is particularly striking in tropical forests, where tree species can differ greatly in their rates of growth and ages of maturity but still attain similar canopy sizes [3,4]. We provide a theoretical framework to relate life-history variables to rates of production partial M/partial t, where M is above ground body mass and t is time. Assuming that metabolic rate limits production as an individual grows, partial M/partial t proportional to M3/4 and incorporating interspecific variation in wood density we derive a universal growth law which quantitatively fits data for large sample of tropical tree species with diverse life histories. Combined with evolutionary life-history theory, [1] the growth law also predicts several qualitative features of tree demography and reproduction. This framework also provides a general answer to why relative growth rate 1/M(partial M/partial t) decreases with increasing plant size and varies differing allocation strategies [5-8].

Keywords: Allometry; scaling; plant life history. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999-10
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wop:safiwp:99-10-072

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