Leaf vein architecture reveals past climates

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Vein network in tropical forest tree. The highly organized minor vein network in a leaf of a tropical forest tree, Ampelocera ruizii. UCLA research shows how the scaling of vein systems across flowering plants arises from a general developmental algorithm and explains global ecological patterns. (Credit: Michael Rawls, UCLA Life Sciences)

(Phys.org) -- UCLA life scientists have discovered new laws that determine the construction of leaf vein systems as leaves grow and evolve. These easy-to-apply mathematical rules can now be used to better predict the climates of the past using the fossil record.

The research, published May 15 in the journal Nature Communications, has a range of fundamental implications for global ecology and allows researchers to estimate original leaf sizes from just a fragment of a leaf. This will improve scientists' prediction and interpretation of climate in the deep past from leaf fossils.

 

http://phys.org/news/2012-05-hacking-code-leaf-vein-architecture.html

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