Abstract
In a study of two species of oak tree, the distribution and arrangement of branch lengths are found to be governed by a simple algorithm. The algorithm which has its footing in a type of fractal self-similarity observed in other physiological structures (West et al., 1986. J. appl. Physiol. 60, 189-197; Goldberger & West, 1987. Yale J. biol. Med. 60, 421-435), reproduces the observed power-law behaviour of mean branch length with order. Furthermore, the high degree of intra-order variability is accounted for as a natural consequence of the superposition of a multiplicity of scales in the structure. The conclusions of this study point to a genetic rather than environmental origin for the design. © 1990 Academic Press Limited.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 199-206 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Journal of Theoretical Biology |
Volume | 145 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 24 1990 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
- General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
- Modeling and Simulation
- Applied Mathematics
- Statistics and Probability
- General Immunology and Microbiology
- General Medicine