"The Enigmatic Disruption: How Forests Defy a Fundamental Law of Nature"

A new study from the University of Bristol has found that forest canopies do not replicate the fractal patterns of individual trees, challenging the idea that fractal patterns might explain how forest canopies are organized. The researchers compiled data from nine vastly different forest types in Australia and found that none of the canopy sections behaved like fractals beyond the crowns of individual trees. While forest canopies are not fractal, there is some predictability in how they deviate from fractal patterning, which might still be useful for ecosystem comparisons. The study suggests that forests may prove to be unruly ecosystems that defy mathematical laws, from their canopies right down to their cells.