Self-Thinning

A progressive decline in the density of a population of growing plants. During the course of the self-thin¬ning process, individuals become larger as the population density declines. If the logarithm of density is plotted against the logarithm of individual weight, then a straight line of negative slope is obtained, and the slope is generally -3/2. This rela¬tionship holds for a wide range of plants, from annual weeds to forest trees, and has become known as the 'self-thinning'rule*.