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The influence of branch order on optimal leaf vein geometries: Murray's law and area preserving branching

PLoS ONE, ISSN: 1932-6203, Vol: 8, Issue: 12, Page: e85420
2013
  • 39
    Citations
  • 0
    Usage
  • 70
    Captures
  • 0
    Mentions
  • 36
    Social Media
Metric Options:   Counts1 Year3 Year

Metrics Details

  • Citations
    39
  • Captures
    70
  • Social Media
    36
    • Shares, Likes & Comments
      36
      • Facebook
        36

Article Description

Models that predict the form of hierarchical branching networks typically invoke optimization based on biomechanical similitude, the minimization of impedance to fluid flow, or construction costs. Unfortunately, due to the small size and high number of vein segments found in real biological networks, complete descriptions of networks needed to evaluate such models are rare. To help address this we report results from the analysis of the branching geometry of 349 leaf vein networks comprising over 1.5 million individual vein segments. In addition to measuring the diameters of individual veins before and after vein bifurcations, we also assign vein orders using the Horton-Strahler ordering algorithm adopted from the study of river networks. Our results demonstrate that across all leaves, both radius tapering and the ratio of daughter to parent branch areas for leaf veins are in strong agreement with the expectation from Murray's law. However, as veins become larger, area ratios shift systematically toward values expected under area-preserving branching. Our work supports the idea that leaf vein networks differentiate roles of leaf support and hydraulic supply between hierarchical orders. Copyright: © 2013 Price et al.

Bibliographic Details

http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=84893705992&origin=inward; http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24392008; https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g004; http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g004; https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g002; http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g002; https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g006; http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g006; https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g003; http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g003; https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g001; http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g001; https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420; https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g005; http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g005; https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g002; https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/figure?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g002; https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420; https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0085420; https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g003; https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/figure?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g003; https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g005; https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/figure?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g005; https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g006; https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/figure?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g006; https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g004; https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/figure?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g004; https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g001; https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/figure?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g001; http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g003; http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g002; https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0085420&type=printable; https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/publications/the-influence-of-branch-order-on-optimal-leaf-vein-geometries-murrays-law-and-area-preserving-branching(e521ad70-456a-4389-b5a6-65d58b14fd1c).html; https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/publications/the-influence-of-branch-order-on-optimal-leaf-vein-geometries-mur; http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g005; http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0085420; https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/publications/e521ad70-456a-4389-b5a6-65d58b14fd1c; http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g006; http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g001; http://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/publications/the-influence-of-branch-order-on-optimal-leaf-vein-geometries-murrays-law-and-area-preserving-branching(e521ad70-456a-4389-b5a6-65d58b14fd1c).html; http://www.plosone.org/article/metrics/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420; http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0085420&type=printable; http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0085420; http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420.g004; http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085420

Charles A. Price; Sarah-Jane C. Knox; Tim J. Brodribb; Roeland M.H. Merks

Public Library of Science (PLoS)

Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; Agricultural and Biological Sciences; Multidisciplinary

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