‘‘Diminishing returns’’ in the scaling of functional leaf traits across and within species groups

http://www.pnas.org/content/104/21/8891 Copyright 2007 National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A.More than 5,000 measurements from 1,943 plant species were used to explore the scaling relationships among the foliar surface area and the dry, water, and nitrogen/phosphorus mass of mature individual leaves. Although they differed statistically, the exponents for the relationships among these variables were numerically similar among six species groups (ferns, graminoids, forbs, shrubs, trees, and vines) and within 19 individual species. In general, at least one among the many scaling exponents was