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I'm imagining a pine-like world tree with platform-shaped foliage, such as the ones in this picture:

Stand of pines

The foliage would be thick enough to build on, and the individual platforms would be large enough for a few countries. The world is heated and illuminated by a local sun that goes around a tilted orbit that takes it below the foliage for the night.

Without invoking even more magic than is already implied, is there a way for this world to have different biomes other than foliage and bare branches?

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Oh, definitely!

All you need to do it turn to the rain forests of the world, with their almost up to 100 meter tall trees, to answer your questions with an emphatic yes!

It starts already down in the roots, that by itself is one biome. Then the undergrowth, the trunk, the crown... already in real life these are wildly different zones.

So, scaling this up even more, to a world tree, that also extends over different climate zones, it follows that there must be different biomes in the tree, that hosts different life.

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    $\begingroup$ In fact, let's extend it a bit. We're talking a world tree here! Let's hold onto enough science to let it be planted on a honking big world. So your root level is dense atmosphere and high gravity. But we declare the tree can reach to the lower bounds of the Mesophere! That means at the top of the tree there's measurably less gravity and it's cold. The windward side of the tree is rainy. The lee side can be desert (arid). The tree is large enough for cavities/hollows to be the size of small lakes. A couple of processes would justify streams and rivers (down ... (*Continued*) $\endgroup$ Commented 12 hours ago
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    $\begingroup$ ... the trunk, decanting along some branches). I agree, probably the only biome that couldn't be represented is marine (salt water). However, where some grazing is plausible, I'd assume the bulk of animal life would be arboreal. But one could have a lot of fun, e.g., coming up with an arboreal version of a cow. $\endgroup$ Commented 12 hours ago
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Yggdrasil


Form. There are loads of conceptual maps and illustrations of the Worldtree that you could take inspiration from! By definition, a worldtree is big enough to serve as the rotational pole of the world, be it spherical, flat, or any other shape you have in mind. Limbs can indeed serve to host multiple worlds on their branches and leaves. The tree itself can be straight, which might be suggestive of highly stratified ecologies, or perhaps twisted & curvy which might be suggestive of multiple ecologies within a variety of zones. Multiple trunks could suggest a branching system of twin or mirror ecologies.


Magic. You don't need to invoke magic, if you don't want to. The world is what it is. If magic isn't part of it, then you leave it out. This is one of the keys to understanding the art of the geopoet, the worldbuilder: you don't need to make a world that could be real in order to make a world that is realistic.


Science. The science will follow the reality you have established. Even in the real world, science can do no more. For example, you mentioned a sun orbiting the worldtree. This suggests that there are daily cycles of light and dark. You could also define other motions that would create one or more systems of seasons & ages. You might also broaden the scope and see if this worldtree system is a part of a larger worldforest of interconnected worldtree systems.


Particulars. The scope of this world is entirely up to you. The worldtree could be, according to our perception, very tiny or it could span light years. Worlds can be connected in a variety of ways, or be separated as determined by the design or some event that unfolds. The tree itself could be static or mobile, passive as a mere infrastructure or active as an integrated part of the whole oecumene. There are no limits here.

Image: r/Napstascott

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Absolutely. Depending on how tall your world tree is, if the very tip-top of the tree extends into the planet's atmosphere, I would imagine it gets very cold. The levels that are closer to the top of the tree are arctic to sub-arctic. Snow and hail are common.

Below that is a continental or temperate type climate. Summers are mild and warm, while winters are colder, but not as cold as the level above. abundant rain would cause this level to be very fertile -- farming wise.

Maybe if there is a level that aligns with the part of the atmosphere where clouds form, that level could be a tropical rainforest type environment, depending on how warm the world gets. If the range of temp is earth-like, then the lower levels could be rainforest instead.

I'm not sure what the climate is like on the planet itself, where the tree's roots are, but the roots could be very damp and humid.

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