BookAnja Geitmann, Joseph Gril, editors.
Summary: This book provides important insights into the operating principles of plants by highlighting the relationship between structure and function. It describes the quantitative determination of structural and mechanical parameters, such as the material properties of a tissue, in correlation with specific features, such as the ability of the tissue to conduct water or withstand bending forces, which will allow advanced analysis in plant biomechanics. This knowledge enables researchers to understand the developmental changes that occur in plant organs over their life span and under the influence of environmental factors. The authors provide an overview of the state of the art of plant structure and function and how they relate to the mechanical behavior of the organism, such as the ability of plants to grow against the gravity vector or to withstand the forces of wind. They also show the sophisticated strategies employed by plants to effect organ movement and morphogenesis in the absence of muscles or cellular migration. As such, this book not only appeals to scientists currently working in plant sciences and biophysics, but also inspires future generations to pursue their own research in this area.
Contents:
Organ and Tissue Mechanics
Wood cell wall structure and organization in relation to mechanics
Modelling, evaluation and biomechanical consequences of growth stress profiles inside tree stems
Bending stress in plant stems: Models and assumptions
Tree mechanics and wind loading
Growth, Morphogenesis & Motion
The mechanics of leaf growth on large scales
Twisting growth in plant roots
Plants at bodybuilding: development of plant "muscles"
Modeling plant morphogenesis: An introduction
Mechanical conflicts in growth heterogeneity
Folding, wrinkling and buckling in plant cell walls
Structural principles in the design of hygroscopically moving plant cells
Using modeling to understand the hygromechanical and hysteretic behavior of the S2 cell wall layer of wood
Molecular Underpinnings of Cell Wall Mechanics
Calcium-pectin chemistry and biomechanics: Biological background and mathematical modelling
Cell wall expansion as viewed by the creep method
Tensile testing of primary plant cells and tissues.+- Water Transport, Mechanosensing & Biomimetics
Water motion and sugar translocation in leaves
Molecular mechanisms of mechanosensing and mechanotransduction
Biomechanics and functional morphology of plants
inspiration for biomimetic materials and structures.