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BRANCH GEOMETRY AND EFFECTIVE LEAF AREA: A STUDY OF TERMINALIA‐BRANCHING PATTERN. 2. SURVEY OF REAL TREES
Author(s) -
Fisher Jack B.,
Honda Hisao
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.1002/j.1537-2197.1979.tb06268.x
Subject(s) - branching (polymer chemistry) , terminalia , bifurcation , biology , geometry , tree (set theory) , main branch , botany , mathematics , combinatorics , horticulture , physics , materials science , composite material , nonlinear system , quantum mechanics
Branching angles, the angles between branch units of lateral branch complexes, were measured for 32 species of tropical trees with Terminalia ‐branching pattern, representing seven dicotyledonous families. Angles of many but not all species are similar to the theoretical optimal values determined by computer simulations based on Terminalia catappa . These theoretical values maximize the effective leaf area of the branch complex. Real branching angles tend to remain relatively constant within a lateral branch complex, although a difference between sapling and adult branches was noted in T. muelleri . The pattern of mirror image symmetry of complexes within one branch tier appears to be random. The coefficient of variation is greater for the separate branching angles of a bifurcation than for the bifurcation angle as a whole. We conclude that observed branching angles optimize effective area in many species (as predicted by the T. catappa model). Large differences between the real and theoretical values for some species may be due to their dissimilarity to the T. catappa simulation.