(Image credit: Stefano Bianchetti/Corbis via Getty Images) However, in 1202 in a massive tome, he introduces the sequence with a problem involving rabbits. The study was funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), The Royal Society, and the German Research Foundation.Portrait of Leonardo Fibonacci, who was thought to have discovered the famous Fibonacci sequence. Reference: “Leaves and sporangia developed in rare non-Fibonacci spirals in early leafy plants” by Holly-Anne Turner, Matthew Humpage, Hans Kerp and Alexander J. Our analysis of leaf arrangement in Asteroxylon shows that very early clubmosses developed non-Fibonacci spiral patterns.” Using these reconstructions we have been able to track individual spirals of leaves around the stems of these 407 million-year-old fossil plants. Holly-Anne Turner, who worked on the project as an undergraduate student at the University of Edinburgh and is first author of the study, said: “The clubmoss Asteroxylon mackiei is one of the earliest examples of a plant with leaves in the fossil record. Our findings give a new perspective on the evolution of Fibonacci spirals in plants.” The technology to 3D print a 407-million-year-old plant fossils and hold it in your hand is really incredible. The study also involved researchers from, University College Cork, Ireland, University Münster, Germany and Northern Rogue Studios, UK.ĭr Sandy Hetherington, an evolutionary palaeobiologist and the project’s lead at the University of Edinburgh, said: “Our model of Asteroxylon mackiei lets us examine leaf arrangement in 3D for the first time. The team created the 3D model of Asteroxylon mackiei, which has been extinct for over 400 million years, by working with digital artist Matt Humpage, using digital rendering and 3D printing. Specimen number GLAHM Kid 2554 in the collections of The Hunterian, University of Glasgow Credit: Photograph taken by Sandy Hetherington. Fossil thin section number GLAHM Kid 2554 in the collections of The Hunterian, University of Glasgow. Spiral-arranged leaves can be identified at the shoot tip of the fossil Asteroxylon mackiei. The leaves of ancient clubmosses had an entirely distinct evolutionary history from the other major groups of plants today such as ferns, conifers, and flowering plants. It indicates that non-Fibonacci spirals were common in ancient clubmosses and that the evolution of leaf spirals diverged into two separate paths. This transforms scientists’ understanding of Fibonacci spirals in land plants. The findings revealed that leaves and reproductive structures in Asteroxylon mackiei, were most commonly arranged in non-Fibonacci spirals that are rare in plants today. The site contains evidence of some of the planet’s earliest ecosystems – when land plants first evolved and gradually started to cover the earth’s rocky surface making it habitable. The exceptionally preserved fossil was found in the famous fossil site the Rhynie chert, a Scottish sedimentary deposit near the Aberdeenshire village of Rhynie. Using digital reconstruction techniques the researchers produced the first 3D models of leafy shoots in the fossil clubmoss Asteroxylon mackiei – a member of the earliest group of leafy plants. However, an international team led by the University of Edinburgh has overthrown this theory with the discovery of non-Fibonacci spirals in a 407-million-year-old plant fossil. Why Fibonacci spirals, also known as nature’s secret code, are so common in plants has perplexed scientists for centuries, but their evolutionary origin has been largely overlooked.īased on their widespread distribution it has long been assumed that Fibonacci spirals were an ancient feature that evolved in the earliest land plants and became highly conserved in plants. Whether it is the vast swirl of a hurricane or the intricate spirals of the DNA double-helix, spirals are common in nature and most can be described by the famous mathematical series the Fibonacci sequence.ģD-printed fossil stems placed next to living lycophytes. This negates a long-held theory about the evolution of plant leaf spirals, indicating that they evolved down two separate evolutionary paths. Instead, the ancient plants were found to have another type of spiral. The results suggest that the typical spiral configurations of leaves seen in nature now were not prevalent in the earliest terrestrial plants that first appeared on our planet. This study has also provided new perspectives on the remarkable patterns observed in plants.Įarly plant leaf arrangements differ from those in many contemporary plants, challenging a longstanding belief about the beginnings of a famous mathematical pattern observed in nature, according to recent studies. Sandy Hetherington.Ī 3D model of a 407-million-year-old plant fossil has reshaped our understanding of leaf evolution. Leaves of a monkey puzzle tree showing Fibonacci spirals.
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