"One sand, one world" is a verse eulogized in the British poet Black's "Naive Prophecy". Scientists from the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona (UA) in the United States have put forward and verified the view of "one tree and one forest" in actual research. It refers to: a single tree can reveal the entire forest. "secret".
Specifically, the study found that cross-species trees have very similar architectures despite their differences in appearance, so that a single tree can reveal the status of the entire forest, especially through a tree can roughly measure the entire forest and How much carbon dioxide has been exchanged in the atmosphere. The results of this study were published in the latest issue of Ecology Letters.
The branch architecture contains mystery
According to the physicist organization network recently, researchers at the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona found that regardless of the type and shape of the tree, as long as you look at its branching pattern, scientists can collect information about it and its surrounding environment. Information about the relationship, such as how much carbon dioxide it has exchanged with the atmosphere, or how much water has been lost through the evaporation of leaves.
The research has important implications for the model scientists use to assess how trees affect global ecosystems, and allows scientists to improve models used to assess and predict entire forests.
Research leader Lisa Patrick Bentley said that this is the first prediction to empirically test the development of the UA ecology professor Brian Enkist in 1998. His theory believes that by analyzing the branching structure of a tree, especially its width and length, it is possible to predict its overall size related to the environment and how much carbon and water is exchanged between independent species.
The study found that all tree species have very similar branching patterns, regardless of their differences in appearance. For example, even though dwarf pine looks very different from maple trees, there are similar ecological, biological, and physical principles that have led to similar branching architectures during the evolution of these species.
The test verified the prediction
In actual research, Bentley led his team to test the above predictions for five different tree species: maple, oak, balsa, ponderosa pine and dwarf pine. Research has found that the theory is correct because it allows prediction of tree function based on the size of the tree, and the principles of this theory are applicable across species, although they differ in appearance.
The researchers also collected nine samples in the forest area as a reserve for research purposes. A research team consisting of undergraduate and graduate students dissects the tree to the final branch, counts the number of branches, branch points or nodes, and measures the length and diameter of each branch.
Bentley said: "There is a certain relationship between the size of the tree and the shape of the branches. They grow in proportion. For example, a pine tree has the shape of a general cone inner circle, while an oak tree looks more like an inverted cone Body. When you think that trees have many different shapes, it is quite surprising that you will find correlations between these different shapes of trees. "
Confirmed Da Vinci's idea
Interestingly, this work also confirms the idea of ​​the renaissance veteran Leonardo da Vinci once proposed-"If you imagine putting all the outermost branches of all trees into a cylinder , Then the cylinder is the size of the trunk. " According to Da Vinci's rule, the cross-sectional area of ​​the trunk of the large tree is equal to the sum of the cross-sectional areas of the branched trunks. Experiments show that the branching pattern of actual trees is more diverse and complicated than theoretical predictions.
Bentley said: "The branching pattern assumed by this theory is based on fragmentation, that is, the same perfectly symmetrical" Y "branching pattern repeated over and over, but the trees are not like this. If you carefully observe the same species and the height The same two trees will see more changes: a branch jumps twice, but its "sister" may branch three or four times. "
"When the empirical theory was tested, we came to the conclusion that, in general, the theory is effective, but some aspects need to be modified, including asymmetric branching, to incorporate more species Changes. "Bentley said.
This theory can be applied to the functions of plants of a certain scale, such as the amount of photosynthesis, water loss and respiration. Bentley explained: "If you want to know how much carbon is emitted by the entire forest, our research can support this idea. You only need to observe the performance of several trees, which represent the minimum and maximum amounts, and you can roughly figure out . "
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