Ecology and Prediction of Compensatory Growth: From Theory to Application in Forestry

Abstract

Compensatory growth has been observed in forests, and it also appears as a common phenomenon in biology. Though it sometimes takes different names, the essential meanings are the same, describing the accelerated growth of organisms when recovering from a period of unfavorable conditions such as tissue damage at the individual level and partial mortality at the population level. Diverse patterns of compensatory growth have been reported in the literature, ranging from under-, to compensation-induced-equality, and to over-compensation. In this review and synthesis, we provide examples of analogous compensatory growth from different fields, clarify different meanings of it, summarize its current understanding and modeling efforts, and argue that it is possible to develop a state-dependent model under the conceptual framework of compensatory growth, aimed at explaining and predicting diverse observations according to different disturbances and environmental conditions. When properly applied, compensatory growth can benefit different industries and human society in various forms.

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“…growth and new sprouts up to a stand biomass bellow that of the control stands [11,12]. We did not find significant differences in survivorship and regeneration between the first and second crops.…”

Survivorship and yield of a harvested population of Forsteronia glabrescens

“…The exploitation of F . glabrescens seems to follow the self-thinning principle of compensatory growth following a disturbance, under-compensating the stem cutting with secondary growth and new sprouts up to a stand biomass bellow that of the control stands [ 11 , 12 ]. We did not find significant differences in survivorship and regeneration between the first and second crops.…”

Modelling the stand dynamics after a thinning induced partial mortality: A compensatory growth perspective

“…For example, Mangel and Munch (2005) referred to CG as the ability of an organism to grow at an accelerated rate following a period of resource deprivation. Diverse CG patterns have been found, and they can be grouped into three main statuses (Belsky, 1986;Maschinski and Whitham, 1989;Whitham et al, 1991;Li et al, 2020;Li et al, 2021):…”

“…CG has been observed in plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates, both in the laboratory and in the wild and in both juveniles and adults as reviewed in Li et al (2021). Mangel and Munch (2005) summarized that the diverse CG patterns are dependent on species, social environment, seasonal development, temperature, food availability, and physiological factors such as internal state and age.…”