Stalks carrying fruit may have very different stresses compared to when they carried flowers.
Tag - biomechanics
Fi Gennu
Biochemical and physiological flexibility accompanies reduced cellulose biosynthesis in the model grass Brachypodium distachyon
How do grasses make cellulose for cell walls? Brabham and colleagues have been examining the genes.
William Salter
Why large leaved plants have wide piths
Corner’s rules describe a global spectrum from large-leaved plants with thick, sparingly branched twigs with low-density stem tissues and thick piths to plants with thin, highly branched stems with high-density stem...
Alex Assiry
Biomass allocation between lamina and petioles in a game of light competition in a dense annual plant stand
Plant architecture is important for light capture. In the field, plants compete with neighbours for light. In a competing system, game theory is needed to consider advantageous strategy (evolutionarily stable strategy;...
botanyone
This plant sucks! (But how?)
The bladderwort has a trap faster than the blink of an eye. It uses powerful suction to snatch its prey but how can a plant can suck so much?
Dale Maylea
Stomatal cell wall composition: distinct structural patterns in different phylogenetic groups
Stomata are pores regulating gas exchange in land plants. Stomatal morphology has remained largely consistent through ∼400 million years of plant evolution, though cell wall composition has changed. Shtein et al...
Trait coordination and structural variation in Amborella trichopoda
Finding that Amborella trichopoda is sister to the rest of the angiosperms has raised the question of whether it shares certain key functional trait characteristics and plastic responses apparently widespread within the...
AoBPLANTS
Anchorage failure is prevented by a rigid central part of the root system
Storms can cause catastrophic damage to European forests. Surmising that anchorage is partly determined by root architecture, Dorval et al. computed the mechanical characteristics of the main components of root systems...
Biomechanics and functional morphology of a climbing monocot
Climbing monocots can develop into large bodied plants despite being confined by primary growth. In a recent study published in AoB PLANTS, Hesse et al. measured surprisingly high stem biomechanical properties (in...
Biomechanics of rhizophores in Rhizophora mangroves
Rhizophora mangle supports a thinner stem of higher mechanical resistance when compared to Avicennia germinans, a co-existing mangrove lacking rhizophores.
Stem extension and mechanical stability in Xanthium
Tissue stiffness and strength play crucial roles in maintaining stability in herbaceous species that lack the capacity for secondary growth.
Do changes in water levels in wetlands give plants a backbone?
The usual rule whenever a headline asks a silly question is that answer is no, and that’s the same here because plants don’t have backs. However research by Hamann and Puijalon does show that emergence due...
Alun Salt
Stem anatomy and growth forms in perianth-bearing Piperales
Anatomical and morphological traits among the perianth-bearing Piperales are examined to detect trends in growth form evolution and developmental processes.
Fibre cables and tensegrity in Typha leaves
Witztum and Wayne dissect leaves of various species of Typha, and examine the fibre cables – composed of long, non-lignified cells – that traverse the air chambers (lacunae).
