Using strong inference to falsify differential equation models of sugar maple height growth---Discussion

Abstract

Leary and Johannsen (2010; Leary and Johannsen. 2010. Using strong inference to falsify differential equation models of sugar maple height growth. MCFNS 2:1-11) envision growth modeling as a search for a single precise line like those depicting the laws of physics. However, it is unlikely that such a complex process as tree growth can be captured by our simple, usually empirical models. Instead of carrying out the experiment so as to get a clean result, it may be more realistic to start with enclosing the field of growth trajectories between two boundary lines representing the two opposite explanations of a studied relationship. Understanding complex process is more likely by combining opposites rather than falsifying one of them. Then, the modules delineating the boundaries can be joint in a single model that describes a more complex and fluid central tendency.  MCFNS 2(1):12-14.