Abstract
Through natural selection, many plant organs have evolved optimal morphologies at different length scales. However, the biomechanical strategies for different plant species to optimize their organ structures remain unclear. Here, we investigate several species of aquatic macrophytes living in the same natural environment but adopting distinctly different twisting chiral morphologies. To reveal the principle of chiral growth in these plants, we performed systematic observations and measurements of morphologies, multiscale structures, and mechanical properties of their slender emergent stalks or leaves. Theoretical modeling of pre-twisted beams in bending and buckling indicates that the different growth tactics of the plants can be strongly correlated with their biomechanical functions. It is shown that the twisting chirality of aquatic macrophytes can significantly improve their survivability against failure under both internal and external loads. The theoretical predictions for different chiral configurations are in excellent agreement with experimental measurements.
Highlights
Through natural selection, many plant organs have evolved optimal morphologies at different length scales
We explore a variety of representative aquatic macrophytes with twisted chiral morphologies, including Scirpus rosthornii Diels, Sagittaria trifolia L., Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani
We collected the emergent parts of six representative aquatic plants in the same freshwater habitat, including (a) the culms of Scirpus rosthornii with spikelets and leaves, (b) the petioles of Sagittaria trifolia with sagittate or somewhat hastate leaves on their heads, (c) the culms of Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani with spikelets, (d) the leaves of Acorus calamus, (e) the stems and leaves of Sparganium stoloniferum, and (f) the stems and leaves of Typha orientalis (Fig. 1)
Summary
Many plant organs have evolved optimal morphologies at different length scales. To reveal the principle of chiral growth in these plants, we performed systematic observations and measurements of morphologies, multiscale structures, and mechanical properties of their slender emergent stalks or leaves. In order to accommodate water-level fluctuations, they usually need to have erect, sufficiently long emergent organs (e.g. stalks and leaves) with reduced cross-sectional areas for various biological functions (e.g. photosynthesis, air delivery to roots) and survival in their living environment. To probe if there is a mechanical principle of chiral growth in aquatic macrophytes, we performed systematic measurements of the morphologies, multiscale structures, and mechanical properties of the emergent stalks/leaves of the six typical emergent aquatic plants. Our theoretical predictions for the chiral morphologies of different plants exhibit good agreement with experimental measurements, demonstrating the crucial role of chirality in improving the survivability of plants under both internal and external loads
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