Complex fractal dimension of the bronchial tree
- 7 October 1991
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters
- Vol. 67 (15) , 2106-2108
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.67.2106
Abstract
The architecture of the mammalian lung has been shown to be correctly described using a fractal model with a complex dimension, related to a Cantor set with random errors, for four different species. Here we provide an interpretation of that model that has implications for biological evolution. We argue that fractals are more error tolerant than other structures and therefore have an evolutionary advantage.Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- The fractal lung: Universal and species-related scaling patternsCellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 1990
- Ion channel kinetics: a model based on fractal scaling rather than multistate Markov processesMathematical Biosciences, 1987
- A generalized theory for determining the field-enhanced thermal emission rate by the reverse pulsed deep-level transient spectroscopyJournal of Applied Physics, 1986
- The organism as bioreactor. Interpretation of the reduction law of metabolism in terms of heterogeneous catalysis and fractal structureJournal of Theoretical Biology, 1985