Competitive performance of Pinus massoniana is related to scaling relationships at the individual plant and branch levels

Premise Competition is an important driver of tree mortality and thus affects forest structure and dynamics. Tree architectural traits, such as height‐to‐diameter (H‐D) and branch length‐to‐diameter (L‐d) relationships are thought to influence species competitiveness by affecting light capture. Unfortunately, little is known about how the H vs. D and L vs. d scaling exponents are related to tree performance (defined in the context of growth vigor) in competition. Methods Using data from field surveys of 1547 individuals and destructive sampling of 51 trees with 1086 first‐order branches from a high‐density Pinus massoniana forest, we explored whether the H vs. D and the L vs. d scaling exponents respectively differed numerically across tree performance and branch vertical position in crowns. Results The results indicated that (1) the H vs. D scaling exponent decreased as tree performance declined; (2) the L vs. d scaling exponent differed across tree performance classes (i.e., the scaling exponent of “inferior” trees was significantly larger than that of “moderate” and “superior” trees); (3) the L vs. d scaling exponent decreased as branch position approached ground level; and (4) overall, the branch scaling exponent decreased as tree performance improved in each crown layer, but decreased significantly in the intermediate layer. Conclusions This study highlights the variation within (and linkage among) length‐to‐diameter scaling relationships across tree performance at the individual and branch levels. This linkage provides new insights into potential mechanisms of tree growth variation (and even further mortality) under competition in subtropical forests.