Related papers: Water Movement in Vascular Plants: A Primer
When an experimentalist or a biological mechanism applies an external force onto a cell chemically sticking to its substrate, a reacting 'suction' force, due to the slow penetration of the surrounding fluid between the cell and the…
Liquids in contact with solids are submitted to intermolecular forces inferring density gradients at the walls. The van der Waals forces make liquid heterogeneous, the stress tensor is not any more spherical as in homogeneous bulks and it…
The roots of some coastal and wetland trees grow peculiar vertical protrusions, the function of which remains unclear. Here, using computational simulations based on first-principles fluid and sedimentation dynamics, we argue that the…
Droplet coalescence is an important process in nature and various technologies (e.g. inkjet printing). Here, we unveil the surfactant mass-transport mechanism and report on several major differences in the coalescence of surfactant-laden…
Phase transitions of atmospheric water play a ubiquitous role in the Earth's climate system, but their direct impact on atmospheric dynamics has escaped wide attention. Here we examine and advance a theory as to how condensation influences…
We explore the possible role of elastic mismatch between epidermis and mesophyll as a driving force for the development of leaf venation. The current prevalent 'canalization' hypothesis for the formation of veins claims that the transport…
Mesozooplankton aggregations undergoing vertical migrations in the upper ocean have been hypothesized to have an important role in the redistribution of carbon, nutrients, and oxygen via biogenic hydrodynamic transport (BHT). While…
Biological growth is often driven by mechanical cues, such as changes in external pressure or tensile loading. Moreover, it is well known that many living tissues actively maintain a preferred level of mechanical internal stress, called the…
We consider a thermodynamic state of a solvent and solution separated with an elastic semipermeable membrane in a box with a constant volume and the relevance of this simple model for the water uptake in tall trees. Under moderate…
In this paper, we present a deduction of swallow water equations in the presence of vegetation based on spatial averaging techniques starting from the general principles of conservation of mass and momentum. For this purpose, we worked in…
Bioconvection, a phenomenon arising from the collective motion of motile microorganisms, plays a crucial role in shaping microbial distributions, fluid dynamics, and bloom formation in aquatic environments. While extensive research has…
Observational data suggest that a belt of planetesimals is expected close to the snow line in protoplanetary disks. Assuming there is such a belt in TRAPPIST-1 system, we examine possibilities of water delivery to the planets via…
Based on laboratory based growth of plant-like structures from inorganic materials, we present new theory for the emergence of plant structure at a range of scales dictated by levels of ionization (charge density), which can be traced…
Growth (and resorption) of biological tissue is formulated in the continuum setting. The treatment is macroscopic, rather than cellular or sub-cellular. Certain assumptions that are central to classical continuum mechanics are revisited,…
Transport networks are typically optimized, either by evolutionary pressures in biological systems or by human design in engineered structures. In the case of systems such as the animal vasculature, the transport of fluids is hindered by…
With most of the focus to date having been on the coalescence of freely suspended droplets, much less is known about the coalescence of sessile droplets, especially in the case of droplets laden with surfactant. Here, we employ large-scale…
Convection is a key transport phenomenon important in many different areas, from hydrodynamics and ocean circulation to planetary atmospheres or stellar physics. However its microscopic understanding still remains challenging. Here we…
Transport networks are crucial to the functioning of natural systems and technological infrastructures. For flow networks in many scenarios, such as rivers or blood vessels, acyclic networks (i.e., trees) are optimal structures when…
Alterations of charges density on membranes (potentials) of plant cells by ion currents lead to disbalance of Coulomb forces compressing membranes and counteracting Hookean elastic forces. It should results in membrane vibrations till…
Vadose zone consists of various heterogeneities and boundary conditions, which profoundly impact the water flow and solute transports in the soil. Understanding these effects is vital for predicting biogeochemistry of the soil and…