A lognormal distribution of the lengths of terminal twigs on self-similar branches of elm trees.

ABSTRACT: Lognormal distributions and self-similarity are characteristics associated with a wide range of biological systems. The sequential breakage model has established a link between lognormal distributions and self-similarity and has been used to explain species abundance distributions. To date, however, there has been no similar evidence in studies of multicellular organismal forms. We tested the hypotheses that the distribution of the lengths of terminal stems of Japanese elm trees (Ulmus davidiana), the end products of a self-similar branching process, approaches a lognormal distribution. We measured the length of the stem segments of three elm branches and obtained the following results: (i) each occurrence of branching caused variations or errors in the lengths of the child stems relative

SUBMITTER: Koyama K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5247503 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature