Tree Shape on a Tidally Locked World

I'm designing a tidally locked world around a red dwarf star. The habitable ring is an Earth analogue. The atmosphere and gravity are similar to Earth's, and we're going to pretend the wind is negligible.

Initially, I wanted to make concentric rings of Earth-like habitats: tropics near the day-side, temperate deciduous forests at moderate temperatures, and snowy, twilight forests near the night-side. However, since the star will always be in roughly the same place in the sky, I imagine trees will evolve differently.

• If the location of the sun is constant, will branches take a specific shape? (i.e. "solar panels" of leaves?)
• Since the angle of incoming light depends on latitude, will trees develop at different angles perpendicular to the sun's rays depending on location?
• Objects cast really long shadows at sunrise/sunset on Earth. Could dense forests even exist on a world where the sun is always low in the sky, or would the light be blocked?

These are my initial thoughts, and they really throw a wrench in my plans for Earth-like forests. I don't care about the biochemistry of fauna on my world just yet - I know the light emitted from a red dwarf star will lend itself to different photosynthesis. Right now, I only care about morphology.

What shape would trees have to take to survive on a tidally-locked world?

posted almost 5 years ago

Zxyrra‭

1 reputation 46 0 0 0