Cotton (Gossypium spp.) boll distribution captures important aspects of fruit development and adaptation over a long period of time. However, due to its complex fruiting habit, it is possible that the boll distribution patterns may not accurately identify the level of sink strength with respect to fruiting locations. Plant and box mapping data collected from producer fields in Georgia in 2009 (Burke and Colquitt, 5 cultivars) and from experimental fields in Texas from 2011 to 2013 (Halfway and Lubbock, 18 cultivars) were analyzed to determine the actual level of carbon sink strengths with respect to the center of mass end-of-season and to gain a better understanding of the regulation of carbon accumulation within a plant. Results showed that the end-of-season boll distribution obscures the level of sink strength in the middle of the plant. The node cohort-center of sink strength was determined to be above the node cohort-center of mass end-of-season when cotton plants were grown under a high-yielding and indeterminate growing condition. On the other hand, the node cohort-center of sink strength was located below the node cohort-center of mass under a determinate situation and low-yielding environment. This difference in the level of sink strength may have been a low risk-taking strategy by the plant to survive under a limiting-environment by partitioning resources toward early-produced fruit at the expense of later-produced fruit. These carbon accumulation dynamics quantify the propensity of cotton plants to shift production toward a conservative strategy of earlier fruiting under conditions that encourage determinate growth and toward additional risk when growing conditions favor growth, relative to the final boll distribution.

棉花 ( Gossypium spp.) 棉铃分布在很长一段时间内捕获了果实发育和适应的重要方面。然而，由于其复杂的结实习性，棉铃分布模式可能无法准确识别结实位置的库强度水平。分析了 2009 年从佐治亚州生产田（Burke 和 Colquitt，5 个品种）和 2011 年至 2013 年从德克萨斯州实验田（Halfway 和 Lubbock，18 个品种）收集的植物和箱形图数据，以确定碳汇强度的实际水平关于季节末的质量中心，并更好地了解植物内碳积累的调节。结果表明，季末的棉铃分布掩盖了植物中部的库强度水平。当棉花植株在高产和不确定生长条件下生长时，库强度的节点队列中心被确定为高于季节结束的节点队列中心。另一方面，在确定的情况和低产环境下，库强度的节点队列中心位于节点队列质量中心的下方。这种库强度水平的差异可能是植物在限制环境下生存的一种低风险策略，它通过将资源分配给早熟的果实而牺牲晚熟的果实。