Abstract
Bromeliaceae, a neo-tropical plant family encompassing over 3,000 species, exhibit two modes of reproduction: sexual reproduction via flowers and seeds, and asexual reproduction via genetically identical clonal rosettes. The vegetative bodies of bromeliads form rosettes with new leaves emerging from the center and clonal rosettes emerging above a single leaf in the rosette, resulting in a genetic individual consisting of a seed-grown rosette and multiple iterations of clonal rosettes. This research develops a combinatorial model of probability that a single genetic individual will include at least n clonal rosettes when a single rosette can produce at most 1 or 2 clonal rosettes. The rosette composition of a single genetic individual is conceptualized as an unordered binary tree which can be mapped onto Łukasiewicz paths. The derived models are used to generate the expected value of the minimum number of rosettes comprising a single genetic individual over the model's parameter space.
Recommended Citation
Lammers, Layla K. and Bodine, Erin N.
(2026)
"Modeling the Clonal Rosette Composition of a Bromeliaceae Genet: A Combinatorial Approach,"
Spora: A Journal of Biomathematics: Vol. 12, 129–142.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.61403/2473-5493.1124
Available at:
https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/spora/vol12/iss1/10
Included in
Applied Mathematics Commons, Discrete Mathematics and Combinatorics Commons, Plant Biology Commons
