Height-diameter allometry of tropical forest trees

Feldpausch, T.R., Banin, L., Phillips, O.L., Baker, T.R., Lewis, S.L., Quesada, C.A., Affum-Baffoe, K., Arets, E.J.M.M., Berry, N.J., Bird, M., Brondizio, E.S., de Camargo, P., Chave, J., Djagbletey, G., Domingues, T.F., Drescher, M., Fearnside, P.M., França, M.B., Fyllas, N.M., Lopez-Gonzalez, G., Hladik, A., Higuchi, N., Hunter, M.O., Iida, Y., Salim, K.A., Kassim, A.R., Keller, M., Kemp, J., King, D.A., Lovett, J.C., Marimon, B.S., Marimon-Junior, B.H., Lenza, E., Marshall, A.R., Metcalfe, D.J., Mitchard, E.T.A., Moran, E.F., Nelson, B.W., Nilus, R., Nogueira, E.M., Palace, M., Patiño, S., Peh, Kelvin S.-H., Raventos, M.T., Reitsma, J.M., Saiz, G., Schrodt, F., Sonké, B., Taedoumg, H.E., Tan, S., White, L., Wöll, H. and Lloyd, J. (2011) Height-diameter allometry of tropical forest trees. Biogeosciences, 8 (5), 1081-1106. (doi:10.5194/bg-8-1081-2011).

Abstract

Annual precipitation coefficient of variation (PV), dry season length (SD), and mean annual air temperature (TA) emerged as key drivers of variation in H:D relationships at the pantropical and region scales. Vegetation structure also played a role with trees in forests of a high A being, on average, taller at any given D. After the effects of environment and forest structure are taken into account, two main regional groups can be identified. Forests in Asia, Africa and the Guyana Shield all have, on average, similar H:D relationships, but with trees in the forests of much of the Amazon Basin and tropical Australia typically being shorter at any given D than their counterparts elsewhere. The region-environment-structure model with the lowest Akaike's information criterion and lowest deviation estimated stand-level H across all plots to within amedian ?2.7 to 0.9% of the true value. Some of the plot-to-plot variability in H:D relationships not accounted for by this model could be attributed to variations in soil physical conditions. Other things being equal, trees tend to be more slender in the absence of soil physical constraints, especially at smaller D. Pantropical and continental-level models provided less robust estimates of H, especially when the roles of climate and stand structure in modulating H:D allometry were not simultaneously taken into account.

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Contributors

Author: Kelvin S.-H. Peh

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