Diminishing returns among lamina fresh and dry mass, surface area, and petiole fresh mass among nine Lauraceae species

• Published in: American journal of botany 2022-03, Vol.109 (3), p.377-392
• Main Authors: Li, Yirong, Shi, Peijian, Niinemets, Ülo, Song, Yu, Yu, Kexin, Schrader, Julian, Niklas, Karl J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bivariate analysis; diminishing returns; lamina dry mass; lamina fresh mass; Lauraceae; petiole fresh mass; Plant Leaves; Robustness (mathematics); Scaling; scaling relationship; Species
• ISSN: 0002-9122; 1537-2197
• DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.1812

Premise The phenomenon called “diminishing returns” refers to a scaling relationship between lamina mass (M) vs. lamina area (A) in many species, i.e., M ∝ Aα>1, where α is the scaling exponent exceeding unity. Prior studies have focused on the scaling relationships between lamina dry mass (DM) and A, or between fresh mass (FM) and A. However, the scaling between petiole mass and M and A has seldom been investigated. Here, we examine the scaling relationships among FM, DM, A, and petiole fresh mass (PFM). Methods For each of 3268 leaves from nine Lauraceae species, FM, DM, A, and PFM were measured, and their scaling relationships were fitted using reduced major axis regression protocols. The bootstrap percentile method was used to test the significance of the difference in α‐values between any two species. Results The phenomenon of diminishing returns was verified between FM vs. A and DM vs. A. The FM vs. A scaling relationship was statistically more robust than the DM vs. A scaling relationship based on bivariate regression r2‐values. Diminishing returns were also observed for the PFM vs. FM and PFM vs. A scaling relationships. The PFM vs. FM scaling relationship was statistically more robust than the PFM vs. A scaling relationship. Conclusions “Diminishing returns” was confirmed among the FM, DM, A, and PFM scaling relationships. The data collectively indicate that the petiole scales mechanically more strongly with lamina mass than with area, suggesting that static (self) loading takes precedence over dynamic (wind) loading.