  After more than a century of research the typical growth pattern of a tree
was thought to be fairly well understood. Following germination height growth
accelerates for some time, then increment peaks and the added height each year
becomes less and less. The cross sectional area (basal area) of the tree
follows a similar pattern, but the maximum basal area increment occurs at some
time after the maximum height increment. An increase in basal area in a tall
tree will add more volume to the stem than the same increase in a short tree,
so the increment in stem volume (or mass) peaks very late. Stephenson et al.
challenge this paradigm, and suggest that mass increment increases
continuously. Their analysis methods however are a textbook example of the
ecological fallacy, and their conclusions therefore unsupported.
