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Figure
legends
Figure. 1. Conceptual diagram illustrating two types of unimodal
curves and cascading growth. a and b: red and green arrows represent
the effects of parameters cM (orM max) andTmr /gr (or λ) on unimodal
curves; - and + represent the negative and positive correlation between
parameters and the curve characteristics (height, kurtosis and length).
c and d: the growth trajectories that trees may follow, i.e., cascading
growth. Here, we only illustrate the concept of cascading growth. The
green line in Figs. c and d represents the unimodal pattern that growth
should follow. Dotted lines represent not fully realized trajectories.
Blue or red lines represent two new and larger unimodal curves. The
solid portions of lines may be in series with the green solid lines,
which means growth will follow the new trajectories, resulting in a
continuous increase in growth trend (α and β ). The dotted
lines in the graph represent growth trajectories that do not occur. The
lines with an arrow indicate growth trends. Another indistinguishable
cascading trajectory (γ ) caused by a continuous increase ofcM and decrease ofTmr /gr .
Figure. 2. Tree ring maximum increment along DBH gradient for
subalpine Abies fabri forest sites at different altitudes on
Gongga Mountain. Circles represent the DBH maximum increment for each
decade. Hollow circles represent the growth dynamics with certain
regularity. Solid circles represent limited scattered data, and are not
included in the fitting. The yellow line indicates 95% confidence
interval.
Figure. 3. The aboveground biomass increments along tree size
gradients for subalpine Abies fabri forest sites at different
altitudes on Gongga Mountain. Green and white dots represent maximum
and average aboveground biomass increments, respectively. The scatter
points on the left side of the vertical solid line conform to the
Gompertz equation, on the right side conform to the logistic equation or
are not fitted. Roman numerals I, II, and III represent the size
intervals corresponding to rising, falling and other trends of growth.
The yellow line indicates 95% confidence interval.
Figure. 4. Growth trajectory of Abies fabri individuals
at elevation of 3,100m. Hollow circles represent growth dynamics with
obvious regularity. The change trend of solid circles is different from
that of hollow circles, so is not included in the analyses.
Figure. 5. Elements and dry matter content in leaves of trees
under different growth trends. Ⅰ, Ⅱ and Ⅲ indicate different size
intervals, corresponding to those in Figure 3. Different lowercase
letters indicate significant difference at P<0.05 level
Figure. 6. Stem economics and leaf dry matter contentunder different growth trends. Here, xd, wm, bt, and dc
represent xylem density, wood moisture, bark thickness, and leaf dry
matter content, respectively. Different lowercase letters indicate
significant difference at the P<0.05 level. Ⅰ, Ⅱ and Ⅲ
indicate different size intervals, corresponding to those in Figure 3.
Figure. 7. Relationships between morphological traits and tree
size. The black rectangles or circles in Fig. 7b represent SWA/HWA and
canopy/size, respectively, for individual trees with recent growth
trajectories that exhibit a unimodal pattern (i.e., Fig. 4). The
intersections of the fitting functions and horizontal dashed lines
represent the sizes of ideal trees and the corresponding functional
traits.
Figure. 8. Effects of morphological traits on equation
parameters. The black dots and hollow circles represent ideal trees
(i.e., green dots to the right of the vertical solid line in Figs. 3a, b
and c) and individual trees (i.e., black symbols in Fig. 4b),
respectively. The yellow line indicates the 95% confidence interval.