Related papers: Water Movement in Vascular Plants: A Primer
The ability of trees to suck water from roots to leaves, sometimes to heights of over a hundred meters, is remarkable given the absence of any mechanical pump. This study deals with a number of issues, of both an historical and conceptual…
The water ascent in tall trees is subject to controversy: the vegetal biologists debate on the validity of the cohesion-tension theory which considers strong negative pressures in microtubes of xylem carrying the crude sap. This article…
The cohesion-tension theory expounds the crude sap ascent thanks to the negative pressure generated by evaporation of water from leaves. Nevertheless, trees pose multiple challenges and seem to live in unphysical conditions: the negative…
We can propound a thermo-mechanical understanding of the ascent of sap to the top of tall trees thanks to a comparison between experiments associated with the cohesion-tension theory and the disjoining pressure concept for liquid…
There is a correspondence between the circulation of blood in all higher animals and the circulation of sap in all higher plants - up to heights h of 140 m - through the xylem and phloem vessels. Plants suck in water from the soil,…
The growth of plants is a hydromechanical phenomenon in which cells enlarge by absorbing water, while their walls expand and remodel under turgor-induced tension. In multicellular tissues, where cells are mechanically interconnected,…
Plant morphogenesis relies on dynamic growth deformations at the cell and tissue scales driven by osmotic fluxes. A mechanistic understanding of this phenomenon demands a physical framework that integrates cell imbibition, tissue mechanics,…
Water flow in plant tissues takes place in two different physical domains separated by semipermeable membranes: cell insides and cell walls. The assembly of all cell insides and cell walls are termed symplast and apoplast, respectively.…
Plants live in constantly moving fluid, whether air or water. In response to the loads associated with fluid motion, plants bend and twist, often with great amplitude. These large deformations are not found in traditional engineering…
Sap transport in trees has long fascinated scientists, and a vast literature exists on experimental and modelling studies of trees during the growing season when large negative stem pressures are generated by transpiration from leaves. Much…
Destabilization of the water cycle threatens human lives and livelihoods. Meanwhile our understanding of whether and how changes in vegetation cover could trigger abrupt transitions in moisture regimes remains incomplete. This challenge…
In Amazing numbers in biology, Flindt reports a giant, 128 meter-tall eucalyptus, and a 135 meter-tall sequoia. However, the explanation of the maximum altitude of the crude sap ascent and consequently the main reason of the maximum size…
In this paper we consider the multiscale modelling of water transport in vegetated soil. In the microscopic model we distinguish between subdomains of soil and plant tissue, and use the Richards equation to model the water transport through…
Food production needs to increase significantly in 30 years, and water loss from plants may hold one key, especially relevant in a time of climate change. The plant leaf cuticle is the final defence of leaves in drought and at night, and so…
It is well known that a solid (e.g. wood or rubber) can be put under tensile stress by pulling on it. Once a critical stress is overcome, the solid breaks, leaving an empty space. Similarly, due to internal cohesion, a liquid can withstand…
Since Charles Darwin's time, the study of climbing plants on a cylindrical stake has been the subject of numerous articles in plant biology. One of the main ideas for studying the coiling of an elastic plant stem is to consider the growth…
Ion transport is the major determining factor of salinity tolerance in plants. A simple scheme of a plant cell with ion fluxes provides basic understanding of ion transport and the corresponding changes of ion concentrations under salinity.…
Water, a subject of human fascination for millennia, is likely the most studied substance on Earth, with an entire scientific field -- hydrodynamics -- dedicated to understanding water in motion. However, when water flows through…
The water circulation in the Soil-Plant-Atmosphere continuum and particularly the soil erosion induced by water are problems of main concern in the new era of climate change. The present paper aims to provide a mathematical tool to…
We study transport in synthetic, bi-disperse porous structures, with arrays of microchannels interconnected by a nanoporous layer. These structures are inspired by the xylem tissue in vascular plants, in which sap water travels from the…