scholarly journals Leaf Bilateral Symmetry and the Scaling of the Perimeter vs. the Surface Area in 15 Vine Species

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peijian Shi ◽  
Ülo Niinemets ◽  
Cang Hui ◽  
Karl J. Niklas ◽  
Xiaojing Yu ◽  
...  

The leaves of vines exhibit a high degree of variability in shape, from simple oval to highly dissected palmatifid leaves. However, little is known about the extent of leaf bilateral symmetry in vines, how leaf perimeter scales with leaf surface area, and how this relationship depends on leaf shape. We studied 15 species of vines and calculated (i) the areal ratio (AR) of both sides of the lamina per leaf, (ii) the standardized symmetry index (SI) to estimate the deviation from leaf bilateral symmetry, and (iii) the dissection index (DI) to measure leaf-shape complexity. In addition, we examined whether there is a scaling relationship between leaf perimeter and area for each species. A total of 14 out of 15 species had no significant differences in average ln(AR), and mean ln(AR) approximated zero, indicating that the areas of the two lamina sides tended to be equal. Nevertheless, SI values among the 15 species had significant differences. A statistically strong scaling relationship between leaf perimeter and area was observed for each species, and the scaling exponents of 12 out of 15 species fell in the range of 0.49−0.55. These data show that vines tend to generate a similar number of left- and right-skewed leaves, which might contribute to optimizing light interception. Weaker scaling relationships between leaf perimeter and area were associated with a greater DI and a greater variation in DI. Thus, DI provides a useful measure of the degree of the complexity of leaf outline.

Symmetry ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaojing Yu ◽  
Cang Hui ◽  
Hardev S. Sandhu ◽  
Zhiyi Lin ◽  
Peijian Shi

Leaf surface area (A) and leaf shape have been demonstrated to be closely correlated with photosynthetic rates. The scaling relationship between leaf biomass (both dry weight and fresh weight) and A has been widely studied. However, few studies have focused on the scaling relationship between leaf shape and A. Here, using more than 3600 leaves from 12 Rosaceae species, we examined the relationships of the leaf-shape indices including the left to right side leaf surface area ratio (AR), the ratio of leaf perimeter to leaf surface area (RPA), and the ratio of leaf width to length (RWL) versus A. We also tested whether there is a scaling relationship between leaf dry weight and A, and between PRA and A. There was no significant correlation between AR and A for each of the 12 species. Leaf area was also found to be independent of RWL because leaf width remained proportional to leaf length across the 12 species. However, there was a negative correlation between RPA and A. The scaling relationship between RPA and A held for each species, and the estimated scaling exponent of RPA versus A approached −1/2; the scaling relationship between leaf dry weight and A also held for each species, and 11 out of the 12 estimated scaling exponents of leaf dry weight versus A were greater than unity. Our results indicated that leaf surface area has a strong scaling relationship with leaf perimeter and also with leaf dry weight but has no relationship with leaf symmetry or RWL. Additionally, our results showed that leaf dry weight per unit area, which is usually associated with the photosynthetic capacity of plants, increases with an increasing A because the scaling exponent of leaf dry weight versus A is greater than unity. This suggests that a large leaf surface area requires more dry mass input to support the physical structure of the leaf.


Trees ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei-Jian Shi ◽  
Yi-Rong Li ◽  
Ülo Niinemets ◽  
Edward Olson ◽  
Julian Schrader

Abstract Key message Using more than 10,000 bamboo leaves, we found that the scaling between leaf surface area and length follows a uniform power law relationship mainly relying on the degree of variation in leaf shape (reflected by the ratio of leaf width to length). Abstract A recent study based on leaf data of different plant taxa showed that the scaling of leaf surface area (A) with linear leaf dimensions was best described by the Montgomery equation (ME) that describes A as the product of leaf length (L) and width (W). Following from ME, a proportional relationship between A and the square of L has been proposed, but the validity of this simplified equation strongly depends on leaf shape (W/L ratio). Here, we show that the simplified equation can be applied to a group of closely related plants sharing a similar W/L ratio with low degree of uncertainty. We measured A, L and W of more than 10,000 leaves from 101 graminoid taxa (subfamily Bambusoideae) having similar elongated leaf shapes. We found that ME applies to the leaves of all bamboo taxa investigated. The power law equation that was used to describe a scaling relationship of A vs. L also predicted leaf area with high accuracy, but the variability measured as the root-mean-square error (RMSE) was greater than that using ME, indicating that leaf width also plays an important role in predicting leaf area. However, the dependence of the prediction accuracy of A on W is intimately associated with the extent of the variation in W/L ratio. There was a strong positive correlation (r = 0.95 for the 101 bamboo taxa) between RMSE and the coefficient of variation in W/L ratio. Thereby, our results show that leaf area of bamboo plants can be calculated by the product of L and W with a proportionality coefficient ranging from 0.625 to 0.762, i.e., the leaf area of bamboo leaves approximately equals 70% of a rectangular area formed by L and W. The pooled data of ln(A) vs. ln(WL) of 101 bamboo taxa were located on or very close to the regression line without being affected by interspecific differences. However, interspecific differences in W/L ratio largely affected the scaling relationship of A vs. L, which led to large deviations of the data of ln(A) vs. ln(L) from the regression line. This implies that the square relationship between A and L does not apply to all species even if those are very closely related taxa.


Symmetry ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu ◽  
Shi ◽  
Hui ◽  
Miao ◽  
Liu ◽  
...  

Leaf shape can reflect the survival and development of plants in different environments. In particular, leaf area, showing a scaling relationship with other leaf-shape indices, has been used to evaluate the extent of salt stress on plants. Based on the scaling relationships between leaf area and other leaf-shape indices in experiments at different levels of salt stress, we could examine which leaf-shape indices are also related to salt stress. In the present study, we explored the effects of different salt concentration treatments on leaf dry mass per unit area (LMA), the quotient of leaf perimeter and leaf area (QPA), the quotient of leaf width and length (QWL), the areal quotient (AQ) of left and right sides of a leaf and the standardized index (SI) for bilateral symmetry. We treated Pyrus betulifolia Bunge under NaCl salt solution of 2‰, 4‰ and 6‰, respectively, with fresh water with no salt as the control. The reduced major axis (RMA) was used to fit a linear relationship of the log-transformed data between any leaf trait measures and leaf area. We found that leaf fresh weight and dry weight decrease with salt concentration increasing, whereas the exponents of leaf dry weight versus leaf area exhibit an increasing trend, which implies that the leaves expanding in higher salt environments are prone to have a higher cost of dry mass investment to increase per unit leaf area than those in lower salt environments. Salt concentration has a significant influence on leaf shape especially QWL, and QWL under 6‰ concentration treatment is significantly greater than the other treatments. However, there is no a single increasing or decreasing trend for the extent of leaf bilateral symmetry with salt concentration increasing. In addition, we found that the scaling exponents of QPA versus leaf area for four treatments have no significant difference. It indicates that the scaling relationship of leaf perimeter versus leaf area did not change with salt concentration increasing. The present study suggests that salt stress can change leaf functional traits especially the scaling relationship of leaf dry weight versus leaf area and QWL, however, it does not significantly affect the scaling relationships between leaf morphological measures (including QPA and the extent of leaf bilateral symmetry) and leaf area.


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (No. 2) ◽  
pp. 117-121
Author(s):  
Sina Cosmulescu ◽  
Flavia Scrieciu ◽  
Manuela Manda

The size and shape of leaves can vary significantly between different genotypes within the same species and they implicitly influence plant growth and therefore productivity. The aim of this study was to compare the length, width, and surface area of leaf in nine medlar genotypes (Mespilus germanica L.) through image segmentation procedure using ImageJ software. The data indicate large variations for leaf surface area characteristics from one genotype to another, 2.12 fold for leaf surface area (22.95–48.8 cm²), 1.38 times for leaf length (8.8–12.18 cm) and 1.6 times for leaf width (3.5–5.60 cm). Leaf shape and leaf surface area vary between different genotypes analysed, and the method used can represent a good, non-destructive model of quick and reliable estimation of the medlar leaves surface area. The information obtained can be used in physiology studies, regardless of genetic material.


Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 500 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Wang ◽  
David A. Ratkowsky ◽  
Xiao Xiao ◽  
Xiaojing Yu ◽  
Jialu Su ◽  
...  

Leaf shape and symmetry is of interest because of the importance of leaves in photosynthesis. Recently, a novel method was proposed to measure the extent of bilateral symmetry in leaves in which a leaf was divided into left and right sides by a straight line through the leaf apex and base, and a number of equidistant strips were drawn perpendicular to the straight line to generate an equivalent number of differences in area between the left and right parts. These areal differences are the basis for a measure of leaf bilateral symmetry, which was then examined to see how well it follows Taylor’s power law (TPL) using three classes of plants, namely, 10 geographical populations of Parrotia subaequalis (H.T. Chang) R.M. Hao et H.T. Wei, 10 species of Bambusoideae, and 10 species of Rosaceae. The measure of bilateral symmetry followed TPL for a single species or for a class of closely related species. The estimate of the exponent of TPL for bamboo plants was significantly larger than for the dicotyledonous trees, but its goodness of fit was the best among the three classes of plants. The heterogeneity of light falling on branches and leaves due to above-ground architectural patterns is an important contributor to leaf asymmetry.


Symmetry ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael C. Corballis

We belong to a clade of species known as the bilateria, with a body plan that is essentially symmetrical with respect to left and right, an adaptation to the indifference of the natural world to mirror-reflection. Limbs and sense organs are in bilaterally symmetrical pairs, dictating a high degree of symmetry in the brain itself. Bilateral symmetry can be maladaptive, though, especially in the human world where it is important to distinguish between left and right sides, and between left-right mirror images, as in reading directional scripts. The brains of many animals have evolved asymmetries, often but not exclusively in functions not dependent on sensory input or immediate reaction to the environment. Brain asymmetries in humans have led to exaggerate notions of a duality between the sides of the brain. The tradeoff between symmetry and asymmetry results in individual differences in brain asymmetries and handedness, contributing to a diversity of aptitude and divisions of labor. Asymmetries may have their origin in fundamental molecular asymmetries going far back in biological evolution.


Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 41
Author(s):  
Peijian Shi ◽  
Kexin Yu ◽  
Ülo Niinemets ◽  
Johan Gielis

Leaf shape is closely related to economics of leaf support and leaf functions, including light interception, water use, and CO2 uptake, so correct quantification of leaf shape is helpful for studies of leaf structure/function relationships. There are some extant indices for quantifying leaf shape, including the leaf width/length ratio (W/L), leaf shape fractal dimension (FD), leaf dissection index, leaf roundness index, standardized bilateral symmetrical index, etc. W/L ratio is the simplest to calculate, and recent studies have shown the importance of the W/L ratio in explaining the scaling exponent of leaf dry mass vs. leaf surface area and that of leaf surface area vs. leaf length. Nevertheless, whether the W/L ratio could reflect sufficient geometrical information of leaf shape has been not tested. The FD might be the most accurate measure for the complexity of leaf shape because it can characterize the extent of the self-similarity and other planar geometrical features of leaf shape. However, it is unknown how strongly different indices of leaf shape complexity correlate with each other, especially whether W/L ratio and FD are highly correlated. In this study, the leaves of nine Magnoliaceae species (>140 leaves for each species) were chosen for the study. We calculated the FD value for each leaf using the box-counting approach, and measured leaf fresh mass, surface area, perimeter, length, and width. We found that FD is significantly correlated to the W/L ratio and leaf length. However, the correlation between FD and the W/L ratio was far stronger than that between FD and leaf length for each of the nine species. There were no strong correlations between FD and other leaf characteristics, including leaf area, ratio of leaf perimeter to area, fresh mass, ratio of leaf fresh mass to area, and leaf roundness index. Given the strong correlation between FD and W/L, we suggest that the simpler index, W/L ratio, can provide sufficient information of leaf shape for similarly-shaped leaves. Future studies are needed to characterize the relationships among FD and W/L in leaves with strongly varying shape, e.g., in highly dissected leaves.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
NAVALSINGH J. TODAWAT

Sooty mould diseases of Tress from Aurangabad district were surveyed. During the survey of tress, 5 species were found infected by fungal pathogens causing sooty mould diseases. Disease is easily identifiable by the presence of a black, velvety growth covering the leaf surface area. The fungus produces mycelium which is superficial and dark grows on the flowers, leaf, stem and sometime on fruits also. The severity of disease depends on the honeydew secretions by insects. The diseases were found to be caused by 5 species of fungi viz. Capnodium anonae, C. ramosum, Capnodium sp., Meliola bangalorensis and Meliola ranganthii.


Author(s):  
M. G. Markova ◽  
E. N. Somova

Work on going through the adaptation stage of rooted micro-stalks comes down to searching for new growth regulators and studying the influence of external conditions, which include, among other things, light effects. The data of 2018-2019 on the effect of growth regulators Siliplant, EcoFus and experimental LED phytoradiators on the adaptation of rooted micro-stalks of garden strawberries (Fragaria x ananassa duch) in vivo are presented. The object of research is rooted micro-stalks of garden strawberries of the Korona variety. It was revealed that, at the adaptation stage of rooted micro-stalks of strawberries, the most effective was the treatment of plants by spraying with Siliplant at a concentration of 1.0 ml/l and the combined treatment with Siliplant and EcoFus at concentrations of 0.5 ml/l: regardless of lighting, the survival rate averaged 99.4 - 99.7%, the leaf surface area increased significantly from 291.85 mm2 to 334.4 mm2. The number of normally developed leaves of strawberry microplants increased significantly after treatment with all preparations from 3.5 to 6.0, 5.8 and 6.5 pcs/plant, and a significant increase in the height of strawberry rosettes was facilitated by treatment with Siliplant and Siliplant together with EcoFus. Regardless of growth regulators, the most effective was the experimental LED phyto-irradiator with a changing spectrum, which contributed to an increase in leaf surface area, height of rosettes and the number of normally developed leaves in strawberry microplants. When illuminated with a flashing phytoradiator, these indicators are lower than in the control version, but not significantly. By the end of the rooting stage, all microplants of garden strawberries corresponded to GOST R 54051-2010.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noa Ligot ◽  
Benoît Pereira ◽  
Patrick Bogaert ◽  
Guillaume Lobet ◽  
Pierre Delmelle

<p>Volcanic ashfall negatively affects crops, causing major economic losses and jeopardising the livelihood of farmers in developing countries where agriculture is at volcanic risk. Ash on plant foliage reduces the amount of incident light, thereby limiting photosynthesis and plant yield. An excessive ash load may also result in mechanical plant damages, such as defoliation and breakage of the stem and twigs. Characterising crop vulnerability to ashfall is critical to conduct a comprehensive volcanic risk analysis. This is normally done by describing the relationship between the ash deposit thickness and the corresponding reduction in crop yield, i.e. a fragility function. However, ash depth measured on the ground surface is a crude proxy of ash retention on plant foliage as this metrics neglects other factors, such as ash particle size, leaf pubescence and condition of humidity at leaf surfaces, which are likely to influence the amount of ash that stays on leaves.</p><p>Here we report the results of greenhouse experiments in which we measured the percentage of leaf surface area covered by ash particles for one hairy leaf plant (tomato, Solanum lycopersicum L.) and one hairless leaf plant (chilli pepper, Capsicum annuum L.) exposed to simulated ashfalls. We tested six particle size ranges (≤ 90, 90-125, 125-250, 250-500, 500-1000, 1000-2000 µm) and two conditions of humidity at leaf surfaces, i.e. dry and wet. Each treatment consisted of 15 replicates. The tomato and chilli pepper plants exposed to ash were at the seven- and eight-leaf stage, respectively. An ash load of ~570 g m<sup>-2 </sup>was applied to each plant using a homemade ashfall simulator. We estimated the leaf surface area covered by ash from pictures taken before and immediately after the simulated ashfall. The ImageJ software was used for image processing and analysis.</p><p>Our results show that leaf coverage by ash increases with decreasing particle size. Exposure of tomato and chilli pepper to ash ≤ 90 μm always led to ~90% coverage of the leaf surface area. For coarser particles sizes (i.e. between 125 and 500 µm) and dry condition at leaf surfaces, a significantly higher percentage (on average 29 and 16%) of the leaf surface area was covered by ash in the case of tomato compared to chilli pepper, highlighting the influence of leaf pubescence on ash retention. In addition, for particle sizes between 90 and 500 µm, wetting of the leaf surfaces prior to ashfall enhanced the ash cover by 19 ± 5% and 34 ± 11% for tomato and chilli pepper, respectively.</p><p>These findings highlight that ash deposit thickness alone cannot describe the hazard intensity accurately. A thin deposit of fine ash (≤ 90 µm) will likely cover the entire leaf surface area, thereby eliciting a disproportionate effect on plant foliage compared to a thicker but coarser deposit. Similarly, for a same ash depth, leaf pubescence and humid conditions at the leaf surfaces will enhance ash retention, thereby increasing the likelihood of damage. Our study will contribute to improve the reliability of crop fragility functions used in volcanic risk assessment.</p>


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document