Department of Plant Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 USA.
Am J Bot. 2009 Feb;96(2):531-6. doi: 10.3732/ajb.0800250.
The manner in which increases in leaf surface area S scale with respect to increases in leaf dry mass M(t) within and across species has important implications to understanding the ability of plants to harvest sunlight, grow, and ultimately reproduce. Thus far, no mechanistic explanation has been advanced to explain why prior work shows that the scaling exponent governing the S to M(t) relationship is generally significantly less than one (i.e., S ∝ M(t)(α < 1.0)) such that increases in M(t) yield diminishing returns with respect to increases in S across most species. Here, we show analytically why this phenomenon occurs and present equations that predict trends observed in the numerical values of scaling exponents for the S vs. M(t) relationships observed across dicot tree species and two aquatic vascular plant species.
叶片表面积 S 相对于叶干质量 M(t) 的增加方式在种内和种间对理解植物捕获阳光、生长和最终繁殖的能力具有重要意义。到目前为止，还没有提出机械解释来说明为什么先前的工作表明，控制 S 与 M(t) 关系的标度指数通常显著小于 1（即，S∝M(t)(α<1.0)），以至于在大多数物种中，M(t) 的增加相对于 S 的增加带来的回报递减。在这里，我们分析了为什么会出现这种现象，并提出了预测跨双子叶树种和两种水生维管植物观察到的 S 与 M(t) 关系的标度指数数值趋势的方程。
