Autotrophic respiration does not keep rising through stand development

Evidence

Autotrophic respiration has not been well documented, but is apparently low in the stand reinitiation stage and then higher in the stem exclusion and understory reinitiation stages. Dogma holds that it continues to increase throughout the course of stand development, but this is not supported by evidence. — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 2081

Categorization

• QUESTION: If the ‘dogma’ of ever-rising autotrophic respiration is unsupported, what drives the respiration curve after understory reinitiation — and does that reshape the classical old-growth energetic story? Worth chasing in the succession literature.