3 ms·

Why should this have anything to do with wind. It would seem to me that he conservation of cross sectional area is because all the capillaries need to go from r

Why should this have anything to do with wind. It would seem to me that he conservation of cross sectional area is because all the capillaries need to go from root to leaf. If the area above a branching point was more than below then how would those capillaries going up to the leaves be fed? If the area above a branching point were less than blow then how would the capillaries going down to the roots be fed? Remember the roots fees the leaves and the leaves feed the roots. So it needs to be a balanced system.

conscion 8y ago
From the article Although researchers have previously proposed explanations for the rule based on hydraulics or structure, none of these explanations have been fully convincing. For instance, the hydraulic explanation called the “pipe model” proposes that the branching proportions have to do with the way that vascular vessels connect the tree’s roots to its leaves to provide water and nutrients. But since vascular vessels account for as little as 5% of the branch cross section (for large trunks in some tree species), it seems unlikely that they would govern the tree’s entire architecture.