An allometry-based approach for understanding forest structure, predicting tree-size distribution and assessing the degree of disturbance

TL;DR

This paper introduces an allometry-based model that unifies different tree-size distribution patterns and effectively predicts forest structure and disturbance levels using simple principles of plant energy optimization.

Contribution

It presents a novel, unified scaling model that explains variations in tree-size distributions across different forest disturbance regimes.

Findings

Model accurately predicts size distribution slopes in forests.

Distribution range correlates with disturbance degree.

Semi-natural forests show wider size distribution ranges.

Abstract

Tree-size distribution is one of the most investigated subjects in plant population biology. The forestry literature reports that tree-size distribution trajectories vary across different stands and/or species, while the metabolic scaling theory suggests that the tree number scales universally as -2 power of diameter. Here, we propose a simple functional scaling model in which these two opposing results are reconciled. Basic principles related to crown shape, energy optimization and the finite size scaling approach were used to define a set of relationships based on a single parameter, which allows us to predict the slope of the tree-size distributions in a steady state condition. We tested the model predictions on four temperate mountain forests. Plots (4 ha each, fully mapped) were selected with different degrees of human disturbance (semi-natural stands vs. formerly managed). Results showed that the size distribution range successfully fitted by the model is related to the degree of forest disturbance: in semi-natural forests the range is wide, while in formerly managed forests, the agreement with the model is confined to a very restricted range. We argue that simple allometric relationships, at individual level, shape the structure of the whole forest community.