| Description |
1 online resource (xx, 426 pages) : illustrations, digital |
| Physical Medium |
polychrome |
| Description |
text file |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Summary |
From Galileo, who used the hollow stalks of grass to demonstrate the idea that peripherally located construction materials provide most of the resistance to bending forces, to Leonardo da Vinci, whose illustrations of the parachute are alleged to be based on his study of the dandelion's pappus and the maple tree's samara, many of our greatest physicists, mathematicians, and engineers have learned much from studying plants. A symbiotic relationship between botany and the fields of physics, mathematics, engineering, and chemistry continues today, as is revealed in Plant Physics. The result of a long-term collaboration between plant evolutionary biologist Karl J. Niklas and physicist Hanns-Christof Spatz, Plant Physics presents a detailed account of the principles of classical physics, evolutionary theory, and plant biology in order to explain the complex interrelationships among plant form, function, environment, and evolutionary history. Covering a wide range of topics-from the development and evolution of the basic plant body and the ecology of aquatic unicellular plants to mathematical treatments of light attenuation through tree canopies and the movement of water through plants' roots, stems, and leaves- Plant Physics is destined to inspire students and professionals alike to traverse disciplinary membranes. |
| Contents |
An Introduction to Some Basic Concepts. What is plant physics? -- The importance of plants -- The amount of organic carbon produced annually -- A brief history of plant life -- A brief review of vascular plant ontogeny -- Plant reproduction -- Compromise and adaptive evolution -- Photosynthetic efficiency versus mechanical stability -- Elucidating function from form -- The basic plant body plans -- The importance of multicellularity. Environmental Biophysics. Three transport laws -- Boundary layers -- . Living in water versus air -- Passive diffusion of carbon dioxide in the boundary layer in air and in water -- Light interception and photosynthesis -- Absorption of light by chloroplasts -- Formulas for the effective light absorption cross section of some geometric objects -- Modeling light interception in canopies -- Phototropism -- Mechanoperception -- Thigmomorphogenesis -- Gravitropism -- Root growth, root anchorage, and soil properties. -- Plant Water Relations. The roles of water acquisition and conservation -- Some physical properties of water -- Vapor pressure and Raoult's law -- Chemical potential and osmotic pressure -- Water potential -- Turgor pressure and the volumetric elastic modulus -- Flow through tubes and the Hagen-Poiseuille equation -- The cohesion-tension theory and the ascent of water -- Phloem and phloem loading. -- The Mechanical Behavior of Materials. Types of forces and their components -- Strains -- Different responses to applied forces -- A note of caution about normal stresses and strains -- Extension to three dimensions -- Poisson's ratios -- Poisson's ratio for an incompressible fluid -- Poisson's ratio for a cell -- Isotropic and anisotropic materials -- Gordon mechanism. -- The Effects of Geometry, Shape, and Size. Geometry and shape are not the same things -- Pure bending -- The second moment of area -- Simple bending -- Bending of slender cantilevers -- Three-point bending of slender beams -- Bending and shearing -- Bending and shearing of a cantilever -- Bending and shearing of a simply supported beam -- The influence of the microfibrillar angle on the stiffness of a cell -- Fracture in bending -- Torsion -- Static loads -- Comparison of forces on a tree trunk resulting from self-loading with those experienced in bending -- The constant stress hypothesis -- Predictions for the geometry of a tree trunk obeying the constant stress hypothesis -- Euler buckling -- Hollow stems and Brazier buckling -- Dynamics, oscillation, and oscillation bending -- Derivation of eigenfrequencies. -- Fluid Mechanics. What are fluids? -- The Navier-Stokes equations -- The Reynolds number -- Flow and drag at small Reynolds numbers -- Derivation of the Hagen-Poiseuille equation -- Flow of ideal fluids -- Boundary layers and flow of real fluids -- Vorticity -- Turbulent flow -- Turbulent stresses and friction velocities -- Drag in real fluids -- Drag and flexibility -- Vertical velocity profiles -- Terminal settling velocity -- Fluid dispersal of reproductive structures. -- Plant Electrophysiology. The principle of electroneutrality -- The Nernst-Planck equation -- Membrane potentials -- The Goldman equation -- Ion channels and ion pumps -- The Ussing-Teorell equation -- Electrical currents and gravisensitivity -- Action potentials -- Electrical signaling in plants. -- A Synthesis: the Properties of Selected Plant Materials, Cells, and Tissues. The plant cuticle -- A brief introduction to the primary cell wall -- Cell wall stress and expansion resulting from turgor -- The plasmalemma and cell wall deposition -- The epidermis and the tissue tension hypothesis -- Hydrostatic tissues -- Stresses in thick-walled cylinders -- Compression of spherical turgid cells -- Nonhydrostatic cells and tissues -- Cellular solids -- Tissue stresses and growth stresses -- Secondary growth and reaction wood -- Wood as an engineering material. -- Experimental Tools. Anatomical methods on a microscale -- Mechanical measuring techniques on a macroscale -- An example of applied biomechanics: Tree risk assessment -- Mechanical measuring techniques on a microscale -- Scholander pressure chamber -- Pressure probe -- Recording of electric potentials and electrical currents -- Patch clamp techniques -- Biomimetics. -- Theoretical Tools. Modeling -- Morphology: The problematic nature of structure-function relationships -- Theoretical morphology, optimization, and adaptation -- Size, proportion, and allometry -- Comparison of regression parameters -- Finite element methods (FEM) -- Optimization techniques -- Optimal allocation of biological resources -- Lagrange multipliers and Murray's law. |
| Local Note |
eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America |
| Subject |
Plant physiology.
|
|
Plant physiology. |
|
Botanical chemistry.
|
|
Botanical chemistry. |
| Genre/Form |
Electronic books.
|
| Added Author |
Spatz, Hanns-Christof.
|
| Other Form: |
Print version: Niklas, Karl J. Plant physics. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2012 9780226586328 (DLC) 2011024765 (OCoLC)730906535 |
| ISBN |
9780226586342 (electronic book) |
|
0226586340 (electronic book) |
|
1280126310 |
|
9781280126314 |
|
9780226586328 |
|
0226586324 |
| Standard No. |
9786613530172 |
|
