Self-Similarity and Scaling in Forest Communities

Details Self-Similarity and Scaling in Forest Communities Self-Similarity and Scaling in Forest Communities

2010-05-07

arxiv.org/abs/1005.1265v1

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107 17 (2010) 7658

Physics

Condensed Matter

Statistical Mechanics

17 Pages, 4 Figures, 1 Table, 1 Supporting Information

Scientific paper

Ecological communities exhibit pervasive patterns and inter-relationships between size, abundance, and the availability of resources. We use scaling ideas to develop a unified, model-independent framework for understanding the distribution of tree sizes, their energy use and spatial distribution in tropical forests. We demonstrate that the scaling of the tree crown at the individual level drives the forest structure when resources are fully used. Our predictions match perfectly with the scaling behaviour of an exactly solvable self-similar model of a forest and are in good accord with empirical data. The range, over which pure power law behaviour is observed, depends on the available amount of resources. The scaling framework can be used for assessing the effects of natural and anthropogenic disturbances on ecosystem structure and functionality.

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