Plant biomechanics: using shape to steal motion.
For grass species to spread efficiently through their environment requires seeds that can disperse over large distances and burrow into the ground. Recent work using awns from Hordeum murinum in conjunction with mathematical modelling shows that awn shape leverages environmental oscillations in order to produce these directional translations.
Wolgemuth
Charles W
CW
University of Connecticut Health Center, Department of Cell Biology and Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling, Farmington, CT 06030-3505, USA. cwolgemuth@uchc.edu
D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001467:Hordeum / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009038:Motion; D012639:Seeds