FIGURE 4.

Brace Root Whorls Have Differential Contribution to Anchorage. (a) The reduction of Force‐Deflection slope after removal of all brace root whorls is significantly correlated with the number of whorls in the soil (r = −.50, p = .02). (b) Each whorl of brace roots in the soil has a differential contribution to the Force‐Deflection slope. The effect of whorl is significant by ANOVA, p = 2.4431E⁻⁰⁶. The brace root whorl closest to the soil contributes the most and the additional whorls above contribute successively less. (c) The contribution of the lowest whorl is highly correlated with the overall contribution (r = .85, p = 1.302E⁻⁰⁶). Plants with two whorls are represented by black and with three whorls by blue dots. Lines represent a generalized linear model (glm) fit and shading indicates a 95% confidence interval. A lower ratio indicates a higher contribution of brace root whorls. WR = whorl