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Self‐thinning lines of organs and aboveground parts based on allometric relationships in overcrowded Pinus densiflora stands
Author(s) -
Xue Li,
Hagihara Akio
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
ecological research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.628
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1440-1703
pISSN - 0912-3814
DOI - 10.1007/s11284-011-0864-x
Subject(s) - pinus densiflora , allometry , thinning , tree allometry , biomass (ecology) , botany , biology , mathematics , ecology , biomass partitioning
The allometric relationships of mean tree heightH ¯ ( ∝ w ¯ x θ )and of organ mass densityd ¯ x ( ∝ w ¯ x δ )to mean organ massw ¯ x were studied in self‐thinning Pinus densiflora Sieb. et Zucc. stands. Tree height increased significantly with increasing mean mass of organs and aboveground parts on log–log coordinates. The value of the allometric constant θ ranged from 0.2878 to 0.3349. On the other hand, the constant value δ was not significantly different from zero, except for leaves. The value of the allometric constant δ ranged from −0.2926 to 0.0120. According to Weller's allometric model, the slope of the self‐thinning line was calculated from the allometric constants θ and δ . The thinning slope was estimated to be −1.51 in stem, −1.39 in branches, −1.00 in leaf and −1.41 in aboveground parts, respectively. Mass density was high in stem, medium in branches and low in leaves. Mean leaf mass density decreased significantly with decreasing stand density on log–log coordinates, which could be interpreted as indicating the importance of the constant final leaf biomass in overcrowded P. densiflora stands. The self‐thinning exponents of branch, stem and aboveground parts were not significantly different from 3/2, which indicated that the 3/2 power law of self‐thinning holds for stem mass, branch mass and aboveground mass in overcrowded P. densiflora stands.