Price Charles A
National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis University of Tennessee Knoxville Tennessee USA.
School of Biological Sciences University of Western Australia Perth Western Australia Australia.
Plant Direct. 2023 Jul 6;7(7):e510. doi: 10.1002/pld3.510. eCollection 2023 Jul.
Allometric relationships for plants, plant organs and plant parts, have long generated interest among biologists. Several prominent theoretical models based on biomechanical and/or hydraulic arguments have been introduced with mixed support. Here, I test a more recent offering, flow similarity, which is based on the conservation of volumetric flow rate and velocity. Using dimensional data for 935 petioles from 43 angiosperm species, I show that both the intraspecific and interspecific petiole allometries are more closely aligned with the predictions of the flow similarity model than that of elastic or geometric similarity. Further, allometric covariation among empirical scaling exponents falls along predicted functions with clustering around the flow similarity predictions. This work adds to the body of literature highlighting the importance of hydraulics in understanding the physiological basis of plant allometries, identifies previously unknown central tendencies in petiole allometry, and helps to delineate the scope within which the flow similarity model may be applicable.
植物、植物器官和植物部分的异速生长关系长期以来一直引起生物学家的兴趣。基于生物力学和/或水力学观点的几个著名理论模型已被提出，但支持程度不一。在此，我测试了一个更新的模型——流量相似性，它基于体积流量和速度的守恒。利用来自43种被子植物的935个叶柄的尺寸数据，我发现种内和种间叶柄的异速生长与流量相似性模型的预测比弹性或几何相似性模型的预测更为吻合。此外，经验标度指数之间的异速协变沿着预测函数下降，并聚集在流量相似性预测周围。这项工作增加了强调水力学在理解植物异速生长生理基础方面重要性的文献体量，并确定了叶柄异速生长中以前未知的中心趋势，有助于划定流量相似性模型可能适用的范围。
