Data from: Scaling of shoot and root respiration of woody and herbaceous plants

Woody and herbaceous plants are the main components of global terrestrial
ecosystems, and their growth, adaptation, and survival depend largely on
metabolism of shoots and roots. Therefore, understanding the size-scaling
of metabolic rates in woody and herbaceous plants, and in shoots and
roots, is a fundamental issue in ecology. However, few empirical studies
have examined metabolic scaling exponents in a wide mass range of plants.
Using whole-plant chamber systems, we measured respiration rates of entire
root systems and shoots of 96 woody species (n = 1243) and 33 herbaceous
species (n = 463) from various terrestrial biomes, with plant masses
spanning nine orders of magnitude. Scaling exponents for relationships
between respiration rates and fresh mass were greater in shoots than in
roots, and both were greater in herbaceous plants than in woody plants.
Furthermore, scaling of whole-plant respiration, including various
species, converged separately for woody and herbaceous plants. These
findings suggest some general physico-chemical constraints on energy use
by shoots and roots of individual plants in various terrestrial biomes,
including forests and grasslands. These data will advance understanding of
terrestrial ecosystem structure and function.