IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v395y1998i6698d10.1038_25977.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Allometric scaling of plant energetics and population density

Author

Listed:
  • Brian J. Enquist

    (The Santa Fe Institute
    University of New Mexico)

  • James H. Brown

    (The Santa Fe Institute
    University of New Mexico)

  • Geoffrey B. West

    (The Santa Fe Institute
    T-8, MS B285, Los Alamos National Laboratory)

Abstract

Scaling relationships that describe variation in population density with body size in ecological communities, such as the thinning law in plant ecology1,2,3, can be explained in terms of how individuals use resources as a function of their size. Data for rates of xylem transport as a function of stem diameter show that rates of resource use in individual plants scale as approximately the 3/4 power of body mass, which is the same as metabolic rates of animals4,5,6,7. Here we use this relationship to develop a mechanistic model for relationships between density and mass in resource-limited plants. It predicts that average plant size should scale as the −4/3 power of maximum population density, in agreement with empirical evidence and comparable relationships in animals5,6,8, but significantly less than the −3/2 power predicted by geometric models1. Our model implies that fundamental constraints on metabolic rate are reflected in the scaling of population density and other ecological and evolutionary phenomena, including the finding that resource allocation among species in ecosystems is independent of body size5,6,8.

Suggested Citation

  • Brian J. Enquist & James H. Brown & Geoffrey B. West, 1998. "Allometric scaling of plant energetics and population density," Nature, Nature, vol. 395(6698), pages 163-165, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:395:y:1998:i:6698:d:10.1038_25977
    DOI: 10.1038/25977
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/25977
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/25977?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sorrell, Steve, 2015. "Reducing energy demand: A review of issues, challenges and approaches," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 74-82.
    2. Wolpert, David & Harper, Kyle, 2024. "The computational power of a human society: a new model of social evolution," SocArXiv qj83z, Center for Open Science.
    3. Chen, Yanguang, 2014. "An allometric scaling relation based on logistic growth of cities," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 65-77.
    4. Tao, Yong & Lin, Li & Wang, Hanjie & Hou, Chen, 2023. "Superlinear growth and the fossil fuel energy sustainability dilemma: Evidence from six continents," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 39-51.
    5. Wiegand, Kerstin & Saltz, David & Ward, David & Levin, Simon A., 2008. "The role of size inequality in self-thinning: A pattern-oriented simulation model for arid savannas," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 210(4), pages 431-445.
    6. David H. Wolpert & Kyle Harper, 2024. "The computational power of a human society: a new model of social evolution," Papers 2408.08861, arXiv.org.
    7. Chen, Yanguang, 2017. "Multi-scaling allometric analysis for urban and regional development," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 465(C), pages 673-689.
    8. Barnes, Belinda & Mokany, Karel & Roderick, Michael, 2007. "Allocation within a generic scaling framework," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 201(2), pages 223-232.
    9. Hendriks, A. Jan, 2007. "The power of size: A meta-analysis reveals consistency of allometric regressions," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 205(1), pages 196-208.
    10. Ma, Ping & Han, Xiao-Hui & Lin, Yue & Moore, John & Guo, Yao-Xin & Yue, Ming, 2019. "Exploring the relative importance of biotic and abiotic factors that alter the self-thinning rule: Insights from individual-based modelling and machine-learning," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 397(C), pages 16-24.
    11. Ogawa, Kazuharu, 2009. "Mathematical analysis of change in forest carbon use efficiency with stand development: A case study on Abies veitchii Lindl," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 220(11), pages 1419-1424.
    12. Hunt, Allen G. & Faybishenko, Boris & Powell, Thomas L., 2020. "A new phenomenological model to describe root-soil interactions based on percolation theory," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 433(C).
    13. Peters, Ronny & Olagoke, Adewole & Berger, Uta, 2018. "A new mechanistic theory of self-thinning: Adaptive behaviour of plants explains the shape and slope of self-thinning trajectories," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 390(C), pages 1-9.
    14. Louis J. Irving, 2015. "Carbon Assimilation, Biomass Partitioning and Productivity in Grasses," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-19, November.
    15. Harris, Lora A. & Brush, Mark J., 2012. "Bridging the gap between empirical and mechanistic models of aquatic primary production with the metabolic theory of ecology: An example from estuarine ecosystems," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 233(C), pages 83-89.
    16. He, Ji-Huan, 2007. "Shrinkage of body size of small insects: A possible link to global warming?," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 727-729.
    17. Laurent Augusto & Antra Boča, 2022. "Tree functional traits, forest biomass, and tree species diversity interact with site properties to drive forest soil carbon," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    18. Xinjing Ding & Peixi Su & Zijuan Zhou & Rui Shi, 2019. "Belowground Bud Bank Distribution and Aboveground Community Characteristics along Different Moisture Gradients of Alpine Meadow in the Zoige Plateau, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-13, May.
    19. Chen, Yanguang & Wang, Yihan & Li, Xijing, 2019. "Fractal dimensions derived from spatial allometric scaling of urban form," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 122-134.
    20. Jiang Zhang & Lingfei Wu, 2013. "Allometry and Dissipation of Ecological Flow Networks," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(9), pages 1-8, September.
    21. Song, Dong-Ming & Jiang, Zhi-Qiang & Zhou, Wei-Xing, 2009. "Statistical properties of world investment networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 388(12), pages 2450-2460.
    22. Tyson L Swetnam & Christopher D O’Connor & Ann M Lynch, 2016. "Tree Morphologic Plasticity Explains Deviation from Metabolic Scaling Theory in Semi-Arid Conifer Forests, Southwestern USA," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(7), pages 1-16, July.
    23. Lu, Zhihao & Yin, Di & Chen, Peng & Wang, Hongzhen & Yang, Yuhang & Huang, Guangtuan & Cai, Lankun & Zhang, Lehua, 2020. "Power-generating trees: Direct bioelectricity production from plants with microbial fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    24. Chen, Xiongwen & Guo, Qinfeng & Brockway, Dale G., 2017. "Power Laws in Cone Production of Longleaf Pine across Its Native Range in the United States," Sustainable Agriculture Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 6(4), November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:395:y:1998:i:6698:d:10.1038_25977. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.