Does the exception prove the rule? (Reply)

Abstract

Enquist . 1 raise several points that they claim cast doubt on our findings and interpretation2 regarding whole-plant relations of respiration, R, with plant mass, M, and total plant nitrogen content, N. We agree with Enquist et al. that R does not scale isometrically with M across all plants. However, their assertion that we claim that isometric scaling (R ∝ Mθ, with θ = 1) is universal in plants of all sizes is incorrect — in fact, we conclude the opposite2, noting that there is isometric scaling within individual experiments, non-isometric scaling of respiration versus mass across all data pooled, and no common relation across all data2.