Important information about tourism in Costa Rica - Florida

By thinking of a tree as an individual organism, we misunderstand it. It's better to think of a tree as a colony of branches.

According to the branch autonomy theory, "1) No branch imports carbohydrate from its parent tree after its first year, and 2) Each branch satisfies its own material and energy requirements before exporting any carbohydrate to the rest of the tree."

"The conclusion drawn from these postulates is that where light is the primary limiting factor, critical characteristics of the branch's carbohydrate economy such as photosynthesis, growth, and carbon export are largely independent of the tree to which it is attached." (from the abstract by Sprugel and Hinckley).

The theory is mentioned in a podcast interview with Chris Earle, curator of the Gymnosperm Database.