3 Results
3. 1 The trunkH-D scaling exponents among tree performance
TheH -Dscaling exponent differed numerically as a function of tree performance;
it decreased as tree performance deteriorated (p <
.001; Table 2; Fig 2B). The scaling exponent of superior trees
(a= 0.58, 95 % CIs = 0.54 - 0.62, p < .001) was
significantly larger than that of moderate trees (a = 0.51, 95 %
CIs = 0.49 - 0.53, p < .001), inferior trees (a= 0.49, 95 % CIs = 0.46 - 0.52, p < .001), and dead
trees (a = 0.43, 95 % CIs = 0.36 - 0.50, p <
.001). No significant differences in H -D scaling exponent
was observed among moderate, inferior, and dead trees (p> .05). Pooling all the data for living trees, the H-D
scaling exponent (a = 0.47, 95 % CIs = 0.46 - 0.48, p< .001) was similar to that of the dead and inferior trees,
but significantly differed from that of moderate and superior trees
(Table 2; Fig 2A).