Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY
Volume 93, Issue 6, Pages 824-828Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.3732/ajb.93.6.824
Keywords
allometry; bending moments; biomechanics; plant biomass partitioning; root biomass; scaling rules; stem biomass; wind drag
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Recent allometric theory has postulated that standing leaf mass will scale as the 3/4 power of stem mass and as the 3/4 power of root mass such that stem mass scales isometrically with respect to root mass across very large vascular plant species with self-supporting stems. We show that the isometric scaling of stem mass with respect to root mass (i.e., M-S proportional to M-R) can be derived directly from mechanical theory, specifically from the requirement that wind-induced bending moments acting at the base of stems must be balanced by a counter-resisting moment provided by the root system to prevent uprooting. This derivation provides indirect verification of the allometric theory. It also draws attention to the fact that leaf, stem, and root biomass partitioning patterns must accommodate the simultaneous performance of manifold functional obligations.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available