For consultations and for possible cooperation I am looking for botanists willing and able to work with coniferous trees (eg spruce, Araucaria heterophylla, etc.), in particular, to determine the lifespans of all branches orders necessary for the development and verification of models of the dynamics of the system of branches. (See paper about the model: Galitskii V.V. Biomass Dynamics of HigherOrder Tree Branches: An Analysis of the Model. Biology Bulletin Reviews, 2013, Vol. 3, No. 5, pp. 412–421; PDF-file available).
Not quite sure what it means; I'm good at conifers, but not at maths or statistics. What can be said for example about this old-growth Pinus cembra? Only the single branch at the lower left is alive.
Thanks for the answer. About this tree at photo, perhaps, there was nothing to say. I need to model quite a normal tree. Spruce near Moscow has lifetimes of branches (4 orders): 1st order - 31, 2nd - 15, 3rd - 11, 4th - 7 years, reckoned from the originating moment of the corresponding inter-verticil section of the trunk. Thus own lifespan of branches 30, 13, 8, 3 years. Defining lifespan of branches to within about one year is not difficult. More accurate estimates apparently require special techniques. It is interesting to note that these four numbers and the model yielded a lot of information about dynamics of distribution of green biomass along height and about the mechanisms of formation of real spruce crowns. For example, a real spruce crown (with branches of 4 orders) is not possible without model accounting the effect of the initial growth inhibition observed in nature. A real lifespan of spruce branches can not be obtained without including an additional model of inter-verticil branches which are observed in reality. If it's fun for you, I could send you a PDF-file of the article, you can skip the math and see the real facts.
