Flow similarity model predicts allometric size dependence, curvature, and covariation of 285 North American tree species

Abstract

AbstractScaling patterns in plants have long interested biologists, particularly whether different species share similar patterns of growth, and whether differences in growth trajectories depend on plant size. Using 8,794,737 measurements for 285 species from the U.S. Forest Inventory and Analysis database, we test several predictions emerging from a recently published “flow similarity” model for plant growth and allometry. We show that the model's predicted curvature for intraspecific relationships between height, dbh, and biomass is found in 88.1% of examined cases, and empirical slopes fall as predicted between the elastic similarity and flow similarity predictions in 71.1% of cases. We also find a strong size dependence in observed intraspecific allometric exponents, with large species, particularly gymnosperms, converging near the expectation for elastic similarity and the central tendency among small species approaching the expectations for flow similarity in most cases. Our results support the idea that differences in growth patterns across plant species depend on plant size and their attendant hydraulic and/or biomechanical demands and helps to delineate the bounds of the theoretical morphospace in which they occur.