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Does the exception prove the rule?

Author

Listed:
  • Brian J. Enquist

    (University of Arizona
    The Santa Fe Institute)

  • Andrew P. Allen

    (National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California)

  • James H. Brown

    (The Santa Fe Institute
    University of New Mexico)

  • James F. Gillooly

    (University of Florida)

  • Andrew J. Kerkhoff

    (Kenyon College)

  • Karl J. Niklas

    (Cornell University)

  • Charles A. Price

    (University of Arizona)

  • Geoffrey B. West

    (The Santa Fe Institute)

Abstract

Arising from: P. B. Reich, M. G. Tjoelker, J.-L. Machado & J. Oleksyn Nature 439, 457–461 (2006)10.1038/nature04282 ; Reich et al. reply , Hedin reply Reich et al.1 report that the whole-plant respiration rate, R, in seedlings scales linearly with plant mass, M, so that when θ ≈ 1, in which cR is the scaling normalization and θ is the scaling exponent. They also state that because nitrogen concentration (N) is correlated with cR, variation in N is a better predictor of R than M would be. Reich et al. and Hedin2 incorrectly claim that these “universal” findings question the central tenet of metabolic scaling theory, which they interpret as predicting θ = ¾, irrespective of the size of the plant. Here we show that these conclusions misrepresent metabolic scaling theory and that their results are actually consistent with this theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Brian J. Enquist & Andrew P. Allen & James H. Brown & James F. Gillooly & Andrew J. Kerkhoff & Karl J. Niklas & Charles A. Price & Geoffrey B. West, 2007. "Does the exception prove the rule?," Nature, Nature, vol. 445(7127), pages 9-10, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:445:y:2007:i:7127:d:10.1038_nature05548
    DOI: 10.1038/nature05548
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    Cited by:

    1. Hsiehchen, David & Espinoza, Magdalena & Hsieh, Antony, 2016. "Hypoallometric scaling in international collaborations," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 444(C), pages 188-193.
    2. Shu, Shu-miao & Zhu, Wan-ze & Kontsevich, George & Zhao, Yang-yi & Wang, Wen-zhi & Zhao, Xiao-xiang & Wang, Xiao-dan, 2021. "A discrete model of ontogenetic growth," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 460(C).

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