New Study Challenges Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Rule of Trees’

A student at Bangor University in Wales challenges a rule established 500 years ago by the famous artist, academic and inventor Leonardo da Vinci, in a postgraduate paper on environmental science. This proposition, called the “tree rule”, explains how to draw trees correctly. but it has been adopted as a parameter of the precise nature of biological scale relationships..

While drawing plans in his notebooks, da Vinci noticed that “all the branches of a tree, at every stage of its height, when put together, are equal to the thickness of the trunk.” The secular rule turned out to be very useful for beginning artists. Despite, such a ratio is not valid at the microscopic level, We conclude the authors of the new study.

Naturally, from the 15th to the 16th centuries, the perception of trees was limited to the external appearance, and it was not technically possible to observe the inside of long timbers. In these structures, water is absorbed through a series of internal tubes that form tissue called xylem to replace water evaporated through the leaves.

Rival to Leonardo da Vinci

Study co-authors Stuart Sopp and Ruben Valbuena wanted to show how the vascular network of plants could be optimized based solely on maintaining hydraulic resistance. The aim was to ensure that existing tree growth models were accurate to better understand the sensitivity of these very useful plant structures to drought.

Based on internal hydraulic modeling of trees, the authors suggest: As the branches become thinner towards the top of the tree, the vascular channels expand.to obtain sufficient buoyancy to “suck” water from the hull.

Metabolic scaling theory and climate change

Researchers give a new meaning to the Davinci theory, emphasizing that: Their new model also advances what is called metabolic scaling theory (MST). Aiming to clarify how the characteristics of organisms are related to their size. Valbuena says in a statement that the recalculations explain “why large trees are more susceptible to drought and may also be more vulnerable to climate change.”

Since MST estimates have been questioned in many studies and do not meet many forest assumptions, the Sopp and Valbuena model is expected to serve to better understand the vulnerability of trees to drought and other adverse effects of climate.

Sopp, who is currently working on his PhD in Environmental Sciences at Bangor, said in a press release that one of the aims of the study was: “Produce a ratio that can be used to estimate tree biomass and carbon in forests”. This measure is vital in developing policies to mitigate climate change.

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