Plant Root Systems

Plant root systems exhibit fractal branching analogous to vascular networks, solving the resource capture problem: plants need to explore large soil volumes for water and nutrients while minimizing root biomass (carbon cost). Each root bifurcates, with daughter roots exploring different soil regions, maximizing exploration per unit root biomass.

Root branching follows scaling laws similar to Murray's Law: root diameter decreases by ~0.7-0.8× per branching level (similar to 2^(-1/3) ≈ 0.79 in vascular systems). Fractal dimension is D ≈ 1.5-2.0, less space-filling than vascular systems.