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Australian Journal of Botany Australian Journal of Botany Society
Southern hemisphere botanical ecosystems
RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Functional evaluation of height–diameter relationships and tree development in an Australian subtropical rainforest

Steven R. Howell A B , Guo-Zhang Michael Song A C , Kuo-Jung Chao https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4063-0421 D and David Doley https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9430-6761 A E *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Botany, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia.

B Present address: School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia.

C Present address: Department of Soil and Water Conservation, National Chung Hsing University, 145 Xingda Road, South District, Taichung City 402, Taiwan.

D International Master Program of Agriculture, National Chung Hsing University, 145 Xingda Road, South District, Taichung City 402, Taiwan.

E Present address: Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia.

* Correspondence to: d.doley@uq.edu.au

Handling Editor: James Camac

Australian Journal of Botany 70(2) 158-173 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT21049
Submitted: 17 April 2021  Accepted: 8 February 2022   Published: 5 March 2022

© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Context: Allometric equations describing the relationships between tree height (H) and breast height diameter (D) should be both statistically efficient and biologically relevant.

Aims: To determine whether selected allometric equations can meet established criteria for both efficiency and relevance.

Methods: Nine equations were compared to define the HD relationships of 1122 individuals and 18 species from an Australian subtropical rainforest.

Key results: Three-parameter asymptotic equations described initial slope (a), curvature (b), and asymptotic height (Ha). Each equation was evaluated for precision (root mean square error, RMSE) and bias in H estimates, and ease of interpretation of function parameters. For both individual species and all stems, a non-rectangular hyperbola (NRH) provided almost equally high precision and low bias as did the statistically most parsimonious generalised Michaelis–Menten function, plus linear parameter values easily relatable to tree structural and functional attributes. The value of NRH a increased linearly with wood density for canopy species, but not for understorey and subdominant species, whereas the value of NRH b decreased as Ha increased from understorey to canopy species.

Conclusions: Species within understorey, subdominant, and canopy structural groups shared similar ranges of parameter values within groups that reflect both intrinsic architectural and developmental patterns, and environmental limitations to Ha.

Implications: The NRH can be used to visualise both early and later tree development stages and differences among the growth patterns of species occupying different positions within a forest.

Keywords: allometric relationships, asymptotic tree height, canopy layers, convexity factor, non-rectangular hyperbola, proportionality factor, saplings, stem taper, understorey, tree architecture.


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