Modular growth in seed plants

Abstract

Modular growth in seed plants may be analysed in terms of three architectural elements: the unit of morphogenesis, the module and the architectural model. Some of the salient features of these structures are reviewed, compared and contrasted. A variety of plant shapes and sizes may be derived schematically from them by two sorts of transformation, gigantism and repetition. The former is uncommon in seed plants, but repetition produces a wide array of constructions. Repetition of the architectural model, a process known as reiteration, leads to a colonial structure characteristic of the crowns of many mature trees. This is often an expression of the plant’s opportunistic response to environmental variations in resource availability. The reiterated complexes formed as a result may show some characteristic ontogenetic and phylogenetic sequences to give an architectural continuum of construction.

O aumento em superfície em Adelia membranifolia (Müll. Arg.) Pax & K. Hoffm. e Peltophorum dubium (Spreng.) Taub., em resposta ao estresse por deficiência nutricional e alagamento do substrato

“…Em geometria analítica, a maneira mais simples de avaliar medidas de superfície compreende os planos, através de equações lineares contendo apenas as primeiras potências das variáveis x, y e z (Thomas 1969). Em morfogênese é admitida a existência de padrões estruturais, produtos de uma auto organização (Mohr 1982), que determinam, por exemplo, o processo de crescimento por unidades repetitivas, ou módulos (Hallé 1986). Dessa forma, o conceito de módulo ou uma variante, a unidade modular de expressão, parece ser adequado para designar a amplitude h da função proposta, assegurando a idéia de processo morfológico no espaço e no tempo (Sattler 1996).…”

Morphological Plant Modeling: Unleashing Geometric and Topological Potential within the Plant Sciences

“…These rules unravel the differences between observed plant morphologies across plant species (Kurth, 1994;Prusinkiewicz et al, 2001;Barthélémy and Caraglio, 2007) and are capable of modeling fractal descriptions that reflect the repetitive and modular appearance of branching structures (Horn, 1971;Hallé, 1971Hallé, , 1986. Recent developments in functional-structural modeling abstract the genetic mechanisms driving the developmental program of tree crown morphology into a computational framework (Runions et al, 2007;Palubicki et al, 2009;Palubicki, 2013).…”

External and internal control in plant development*

“…Each shoot apex is a potential point for further development. Development is an iterative process: the same, finite bit of program is repeated to add new metamers [25,26]. This add-on nature of development implies that the developmental program is essentially openended.…”