Growth and mortality of individual plants as a function of "available area"

Richard Mithen; John L. Harper; Jacob Weiner

doi:10.1007/BF00377373

Growth and mortality of individual plants as a function of "available area"

Richard Mithen, John L. Harper, Jacob Weiner^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Section for Organismal Biology

109 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We looked at the relationship between "available area", as defined by Thiessen polygons around individual plants, and plant size and mortality in even-aged green-house populations of Lapsana communis L. Polygon area was a good predictor of plant weight in these populations. After nine weeks growth, just prior to the onset of self-thinning, the dry weight of plants was directly proportional to the square root of polygon area. After the onset of selfthinning, plant weight appeared to be directly related to polygon area to the 3/2 power. Plants in small polygons were much more likely to die than those in larger areas. Thinning changed the frequency distribution of polygon sizes from highly skewed and unequal to normal and more equal, while inequality in surviving plant sizes did not appear to be affected by thinning.

Original language	English
Journal	Oecologia
Volume	62
Issue number	1
Pages (from-to)	57-60
Number of pages	4
ISSN	0029-8549
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00377373
Publication status	Published - 1 Apr 1984

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abstract = "We looked at the relationship between {"}available area{"}, as defined by Thiessen polygons around individual plants, and plant size and mortality in even-aged green-house populations of Lapsana communis L. Polygon area was a good predictor of plant weight in these populations. After nine weeks growth, just prior to the onset of self-thinning, the dry weight of plants was directly proportional to the square root of polygon area. After the onset of selfthinning, plant weight appeared to be directly related to polygon area to the 3/2 power. Plants in small polygons were much more likely to die than those in larger areas. Thinning changed the frequency distribution of polygon sizes from highly skewed and unequal to normal and more equal, while inequality in surviving plant sizes did not appear to be affected by thinning.",

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AU - Harper, John L.

AU - Weiner, Jacob

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N2 - We looked at the relationship between "available area", as defined by Thiessen polygons around individual plants, and plant size and mortality in even-aged green-house populations of Lapsana communis L. Polygon area was a good predictor of plant weight in these populations. After nine weeks growth, just prior to the onset of self-thinning, the dry weight of plants was directly proportional to the square root of polygon area. After the onset of selfthinning, plant weight appeared to be directly related to polygon area to the 3/2 power. Plants in small polygons were much more likely to die than those in larger areas. Thinning changed the frequency distribution of polygon sizes from highly skewed and unequal to normal and more equal, while inequality in surviving plant sizes did not appear to be affected by thinning.

AB - We looked at the relationship between "available area", as defined by Thiessen polygons around individual plants, and plant size and mortality in even-aged green-house populations of Lapsana communis L. Polygon area was a good predictor of plant weight in these populations. After nine weeks growth, just prior to the onset of self-thinning, the dry weight of plants was directly proportional to the square root of polygon area. After the onset of selfthinning, plant weight appeared to be directly related to polygon area to the 3/2 power. Plants in small polygons were much more likely to die than those in larger areas. Thinning changed the frequency distribution of polygon sizes from highly skewed and unequal to normal and more equal, while inequality in surviving plant sizes did not appear to be affected by thinning.

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Growth and mortality of individual plants as a function of "available area"

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