Do mixed-species mixed-size indigenous forests also follow the self-thinning line?

In a new paper, Enquist and Niklas show that trees in indigenous forests ha ve a diameter-frequency distribution that has a slope of -2. Thus, these tr ees also follow the well-known self-thinning line. The authors suggest that this typical inverse-J demographic pattern is to be expected from the scal ing consequences of the fractal internal supply networks of xylem, operatin g in a milieu of allocation optima. Thus,forest biomass is set by local res ource supply, and size-class transitions are set by the greater efficiency of larger trees. Do these patterns, conditions and explanations apply to tr ees and forests in general?.