Reverse Causality in Size-Dependent Growth
Parole chiave:
Confounding, bias, consistency, path analysis, structural equation modelling, mixed effects, endogenous variables, instrumental variables, allometry.Abstract
Size-dependent growth is likely to be growth-dependent size instead. Larger organisms do not necessarily grow faster, but faster-growing ones always tend to be larger. This fact has been generally ignored. Correct causality structures are essential for plausible predictions outside the range of the data. Some techniques potentially useful for studying these issues are briefly described. In forestry, the relevance of multiple size measures like volume, height, diameter and basal area complicates the picture. Additionally, purely mathematical sources of growth-size correlations arise. Physiological considerations suggest avoiding stem thickness measures as explanatory variables in growth equations.
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