Plant Biomass Allocation across a Precipitation Gradient: An Approach to Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest at Yucatan, Mexico
Por:
Roa-Fuentes L.L., Campo J., Parra-Tabla V.
Publicada:
1 dic 2012
Resumen:
It has been assumed that plant biomass partitioning to stems and roots at the ecosystem level follows a single strategy according to which the stem biomass scales isometrically with root biomass, a hypothesis known as 'isometric scaling'. In this study, we examined an alternative theory used for plants: plant biomass is allocated preferentially to the plant organ that harvests the limiting growth resource, a theory known as the 'balanced growth hypothesis'. Our objective was to test these two alternative hypotheses across a water availability gradient. We quantified the stem and root biomass in a seasonally dry tropical forest (SDTF) in three regions of the Yucatan peninsula along a precipitation gradient. Reduced major axis analysis showed that the slopes of the relationship between stem and root biomass across the study regions were statistically similar and significantly different from 1.0 (common slope = 2.5), which contrasts with the 'isometric scaling' hypothesis. The allometric
Filiaciones:
Roa-Fuentes L.L.:
Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Inst Ecol, Mexico City 04510, DF, Mexico
Campo J.:
Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Inst Ecol, Mexico City 04510, DF, Mexico
Parra-Tabla V.:
Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico
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