The way trees grow together do not resemble how branches grow on a single tree, scientists have discovered.
The way trees grow together do not resemble how branches grow on a single tree, scientists have discovered.
Nature is full of surprising repetitions. In trees, the large branches often look like entire trees, while smaller branches and twigs look like the larger branches they grow from. If seen in isolation, each part of the tree could be mistaken for a miniature version of itself.
It has long been assumed that this property, called fractality, also applies to entire forests but researchers from the University of Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences have found that this is not the case.
The study, published in December in Journal of Ecology, refutes claims that the self-similarity which is observed within individual trees can be extended to whole forest canopies and landscapes.
Read more at University of Bristol
Photo Credit: jplenio via Pixabay
