C V Raman Laboratory of Ecological Informatics, Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management-Kerala, Trivandrum, Kerala, India.
Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin, Kerala, India.
PLoS One. 2024 Jan 2;19(1):e0293596. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293596. eCollection 2024.
Shape is an objective characteristic of an object. A boundary separates a physical object from its surroundings. It defines the shape and regulates energy flux into and from an object. Visual perception of a definite shape (geometry) of physical objects is an abstraction. While the perceived geometry at an object's sharp interface (macro) creates a Euclidian illusion of actual shape, the notion of diffuse interfaces (micro) allows an understanding of the realistic form of objects. Here, we formulate a dimensionless geometric entropy of plant leaves (SL) by a 2-D description of a phase-field function. We applied this method to 112 tropical plant leaf images. SL was estimated from the leaf perimeter (P) and leaf area (A). It correlates positively with a fractal dimensional measure of leaf complexity, viz., segmental fractal complexity. Leaves with a higher P: A ratio have higher SL and possess complex morphology. The univariate cluster analysis of SL reveals the taxonomic relationship among the leaf shapes at the genus level. An increase in SL of plant leaves could be an evolutionary strategy. The results of morphological complexity presented in this paper will trigger discussion on the causal links between leaf adaptive stability/efficiency and complexity. We present SL as a derived plant trait to describe plant leaf complexity and adaptive stability. Integrating SL into other leaf physiological measures will help to understand the dynamics of energy flow between plants and their environment.
形状是物体的客观特征。边界将物理物体与其周围环境分开。它定义了形状，并调节能量流入和流出物体的通量。对物理物体的明确形状（几何形状）的视觉感知是一种抽象。虽然在物体的锐利界面（宏观）处感知到的几何形状产生了实际形状的欧几里得错觉，但漫射界面（微观）的概念允许理解物体的实际形状。在这里，我们通过相位场函数的二维描述来构建植物叶片的无量纲几何熵（SL）。我们将该方法应用于 112 个热带植物叶片图像。SL 是根据叶片周长（P）和叶片面积（A）来估算的。它与叶片复杂度的分形维数度量呈正相关，即分段分形复杂度。具有较高 P:A 比的叶片具有更高的 SL 和更复杂的形态。SL 的单变量聚类分析揭示了属水平叶片形状的分类关系。植物叶片 SL 的增加可能是一种进化策略。本文提出的形态复杂性结果将引发关于叶片适应性稳定性/效率与复杂性之间因果关系的讨论。我们将 SL 作为衍生的植物特征来描述植物叶片的复杂性和适应性稳定性。将 SL 纳入其他叶片生理测量中，将有助于了解植物与其环境之间能量流动的动态。
