اندازه شاخه نسبی در خوشه های شاخه ای از طریق یک فرایند مارکویچ مدل سازی شده است

The branches observed within a P. radiata cluster were ordered following their relative sizes (from largest to smallest), and Markovian transition matrixes were calculated for each branch cluster (whorls of 3–12 branches). The transition matrixes were defined as the probabilities of one branch being followed by an equal-sized or smaller branch when observing the cluster from the top down. The obtained Markov chain matrixes were used in a stochastic data simulation, which was validated with an independent dataset. The presented matrixes can be incorporated into traditional simulation models or functional–structural models. The validation results show that the proposed methodology accurately reflects the variability of the branch sizes in a cluster, and we suggest its application to other species that display a clustered organisation of branches.