If you pay any attention to the world around you , you are belike aware of how deciduous trees shed leave , pollen , semen , fruits , and yet more pollen into the world around them .

Nature , and the process of evolution , has come up with ingenious way for trees to unfold their seeds around far and wide . These include offeringtreats to animalsthat unknowingly transport the seeds elsewhere ( sometimes in their digestive arrangement ) to be planted , explosions of semen pods , and dispersing through the malarkey .

" birch also utilise the hint for pollination , as well as to circulate their seeds . They produce large numbers of tiny , lightweight fly cum called samaras , which float and glide on air currents . Willows alternatively publish flossy seed which habituate a parachute effect to hinge upon the breeze , " the UK’sWoodland Trust explainsof the wind dissemination mechanism .

" Ash , field maple , and hornbeam seed generate their own lift with their specially design wings . These ' eggbeater seeds ' whirl as they fall , creating a type of flight known as autorotation . "

Deciduous trees throw their leaves every year , lose around 40 percent of the C they have assimilate , and substantial total of nutrients in the unconscious process . But they do not have to be miss incessantly , and can be recycle by the tree diagram itself if they shore and decompose close enough to the parent tree .

" Evolutionary thinking suggests that tree may optimize their leaves to deposit where their nutrients can be recycle , and topically improve soil conditions , " Matthew D. Biviano and Kaare H. Jensen , from the Department of Physics at the Technical University of Denmark , explain in a new report .

" human body adaptations that take advantage of flowing effects allow , e.g. , the parachute dandelion seminal fluid , the glide Javan cucumber seed , or the whirlybird maple seeds to come slowly and be carry by the idle words to finalize signally far from the parent plant . In dividing line to pollen and seeds , however , leave of absence must fall to the ground quickly to achieve a proximal tightness of nutrients . "

The team investigated how the shape of the leaf of deciduous trees affects how they accrue , using an " automated sedimentation apparatus " to conduct 100 devoid fall experiments a daylight on biomimetic newspaper publisher folio . The leaves were drop into water , allow them to take apart the ancestry .

The team found that most of the " leaves " fell promptly , which is vital if the leaves are to diminish near the tree diagram , where their nutrients and carbon can be reuse .

" The legal age of 25 representative leaves square off at pace similar to our control ( a circular record ) . Strikingly , the Arabidopsis mutant asymmetric leaves1 ( as1 ) fell 15 % slower than the wild eccentric . apply the as1 - digital chromosomal mutation to deciduous tree leave revealed a interchangeable speed reduction , " the squad write .

" Data correlate shape and settling across a broad range of natural , mutated , and artificial leaves support the fast - leaf - hypothesis : Deciduous leafage are symmetrical and comparatively unlobed in part because this maximizes their subsidence speed and consequent nutritive retention . "

Non - symmetrical farewell were found to decrease more slowly , due to the way they twirled as they fall .

" We pop the question that symmetry in deciduous foliage shape is evolutionarily drive by an aspiration to pass apace , " the team added . " This , in go , facilitates local nutrient recycling through the soil , thus promoting the fittingness of tree and their materialisation . "

While interesting , and sure plausible , the squad stresses that there are other factors which impress the shape of leaf , though nutritive recycling may be a large factor . They add that climate change has been depict to significantly affect leaf shapes and symmetry , and this in turn may affect nutrient recycling in trees .

The field of study is bring out in theJournal of the Royal Society Interface .