Species
Plantae
IUCN
NCBI
EOL Text
Reinforced fibers provide strength: plants
Fibers in many woody plants provide mechanical strength via lignin reinforcements.
"Plant fibres occur in the wood of many plants, and because of their association with the xylem, are called xylary fibres. They are also often found in the outer part of young stems, bark and leaves, where they are called extraxylary fibres. Their main functioning is in strengthening. The common feature of fibre cells is that they are elongated and thick-walled, with lignins permeating the cellulose of the cell wall. Fibre cells normally have pointed ends (Fig. 3). They often extend in length during development, growing between cells that may not be lengthening at the same rate. Fibres may be only about 10 times longer than wide, but many are 20-30 and even up to and exceeding 100 times longer than wide. They may remain flexible, as in many extraxylary fibres, or have more limited flexibility, as in xylary fibres." (Cutler 2005:103)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
- Cutler, DF. 2005. Design in plants. In: Collins, MW; Atherton, MA; Bryant, JA, editors. Nature and Design. Southampton, Boston: WIT Press. p 95-124
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
Source | http://www.asknature.org/strategy/724da471ad5ff0041fcd9725ecbabbac |
Wood self-assembles: trees
The cell walls of wood in trees self-assemble through structural features, not biochemistry.
A better understanding of how the cell wall of wood forms will someday help wood scientists assemble wood-like composites without using trees. The current hypothesis is that the cell wall of wood does not require biochemistry to form, but self-assembles spontaneously because of structural features. Researchers are studying this process carefully, in hopes that someday wood-like materials can be produced from other plant-derived molecules. (Courtesy of the Biomimicry Guild)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
Source | http://www.asknature.org/strategy/7d617327e1731af468cb345767bc6181 |
Lignified parenchyma cells provide strength: plants
Parenchyma cells in plants provide mechanical support when they become lignified and thick-walled.
"Sometimes axially elongated cells of the 'packing' tissue, parenchyma, become thick-walled and lignified. These have similar functions to fibres, but their ends tend not to be pointed. Often no distinction is made between this cell type and true fibres. Cells of this type make up the bulk of the strengthening tissue in bamboos. They are arranged towards the periphery of the stem, the centre of which is often hollow, with transverse septa at intervals." (Cutler 2005:103)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
- Cutler, DF. 2005. Design in plants. In: Collins, MW; Atherton, MA; Bryant, JA, editors. Nature and Design. Southampton, Boston: WIT Press. p 95-124
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
Source | http://www.asknature.org/strategy/101fcbaa20c58d5aa450ee3b1e5b819d |
Pressure sucks moisture from soil: desert plants
The roots of desert plants extract hard to remove water from soil using negative pressure.
"Plants again. Even in a desert the soil a little ways below the surface contains liquid water. It's called 'capillary water' and is often thought of as firmly stuck to soil particles. The binding, though, is as much physical as chemical - the water in the soil interstices lie in tiny recesses between soil crumbs where it has minimized its exposed interface with air (Rose 1966). For the roots of a plant to extract the water requires making more surface, and thus it takes a very great pull, one that appears as an additional (negative) component of the pressure in the vessels running up a stem or trunk. The lowest (most negative) pressures known in plants occur in desert shrubs, which must suck really hard on the ground to get any water out. The most extreme value on record is, I think, minus 120 atmospheres (Schlessinger et al. 1982) - that would hold up a column water over 1,200 meters (4,000 feet) high. So the pull needed to get water free of soil can exceed both the pull that keeps water moving in the vessels and the pull that counteracts gravity." (Vogel 2003:113)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
- Steven Vogel. 2003. Comparative Biomechanics: Life's Physical World. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 580 p.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
Source | http://www.asknature.org/strategy/0bdb8beca31c79cdeb2aae78ed545456 |
Circular, tapering beams stabilize: plants
Cantilever-like structures such as long necks and antennae of many organisms stabilize via circular, tapering structure.
"Organisms most often use beams that are circular (or elliptical) in cross section, and for these the common engineering handbooks…don't give such direct solutions. Denny (1988) faced the matter in admirably direct fashion. Some degree of taper, though, is virtually universal, for the branches of trees, for long necks and upheld tails, for archy's long, thin cockroach antennae as well as for the cat's whiskers of mehitabel (Marquis 1927)." (Vogel 2003:373)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
- Steven Vogel. 2003. Comparative Biomechanics: Life's Physical World. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 580 p.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
Source | http://www.asknature.org/strategy/7b8a44ab3987f199f2f5101dfee9706e |
Enzyme catalyzes many reactions: plants
Many plants and microorganisms can catalyze a wide variety of organic chemical reactions via the 2OG oxygenase enzyme.
"In plants and microorganisms…2OG oxygenases catalyze a plethora of oxidative reactions, which has led to the proposal that they may be the most versatile of all oxidizing biological catalysts. Some of these reactions are chemically remarkable and indeed presently cannot be achieved through synthetic—that is, non-biological—chemistry. Oxidative reactions catalyzed by 2OG oxygenases include cyclizations, ring fragmentation, C-C bond cleavage, epimerization, desaturation and the hydroxylation of aromatic rings. The discovery that 2OG oxygenases can catalyze chlorination reactions further extends the scope of the family." (Flashman 2007:86)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
- Flashman, Emily; Schofield, Christopher J. 2007. The most versatile of all reactive intermediates?. Nat Chem Biol. 3(2): 86-87.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
Source | http://www.asknature.org/strategy/02ac87eb3abb2d5fe41d20da1fbd04af |
The 250,000-380,000 currently-known plant species (2,7,8,11) , or members of the kingdom Plantae, are organisms that live on every continent and in nearly every habitat on Earth (10). Plants include some of the primarily water-dwelling organisms called green algae (specifically a group known as the charophyte algae(12)), and the embryophytes or land plants which evolved from green algae (1,12,14). A sometimes-used broader definition of plants also includes the rest of the green algae as well as red algae and glaucophyte algae (9,14). The subset of plants called land plants is divided into two main groups itself: nonvascular plants (those that lack specialized systems allowing them to transport water and nutrients internally; these include mosses, hornworts, and liverworts (5,7)); and vascular plants (those that do have vascular transport systems; these include ferns, lycophytes, gymnosperms, and the highly diverse flowering plants (14)). Plants have special cell walls around each of their cells built in large part out of a carbohydrate called cellulose (7) that makes them especially strong and firm (6). Unlike most other organisms, most plants produce their own food through a process called photosynthesis (9), in which they soak up sunlight, usually with their leaves, and deploy this sunlight within a complicated biochemical system to turn carbon dioxide combined with water into energy-rich sugars (3,15). Through this process, plants have a crucial effect on the global climate and the environment—they remove carbon dioxide, a gas that contributes to global warming, from the air (13), and release oxygen, which is essential for animals, fungi, protists, many bacteria, and even plants themselves in order for them to extract energy from organic molecules (4,15). In addition, plants provide food and shelter for many kinds of organisms, and humans rely on them directly for grains, vegetables, fruits, wood, paper, clothing, and many medicines (8,11). In the future, they may be useful as sources for new medical drugs (8), emerging cleaner, renewable fuels, and other products (6). For all of these reasons and more, plant conservation is critically important (2,8,11).
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Noah Weisz, Noah Weisz |
Source | No source database. |
Roots maximize water uptake: plants
Roots of plants maximize water uptake by adapting their orientation to the environment.
"To find water, a plant has to position its roots with just as much precision as it arranges its leaves. If moisture is in very short supply, then a plant may have to drive a tap root deep into the ground to reach the water table. Some desert plants have had to develop root systems that are far deeper than they are tall and extend laterally a very long way beyond the furthest extent of their foliage. Even if the environment is well-watered, a plant may still need to compete with others for this essential commodity, so it positions a network of roots within a few inches of the soil surface, where it can gather the rain water before others can." (Attenborough 1995:48-51)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
- Attenborough, D. 1995. The Private Life of Plants: A Natural History of Plant Behavior. London: BBC Books. 320 p.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
Source | http://www.asknature.org/strategy/2386af151126ef7579cf5c506b6dc7de |
Structures optimize material use: plants
Plants maximize strength while reducing materials by incorporating tetrahedral elements that can be stacked in hexagonal containers.
"Nature has provided many packaging methods to protect plants and animals against physical impact. The design often uses a minimum of material while offering a maximum of usable space. Tetrahedral elements which can be stacked in hexagonal containers without any waste of space are frequently found in plants." (Tributsch 1984:22)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
- Tributsch, H. 1984. How life learned to live. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. 218 p.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
Source | http://www.asknature.org/strategy/7a4d2eeca49f57b88f0dcf7bbb49bb15 |
Project BudBurst, a National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) citizen science program, is a network of people across the United States monitoring plants as the seasons change. Participants collect and share important ecological data based on the timing of leafing, flowering, and fruiting of plants (plant phenophases). Project BudBurst participants make careful observations of the timing of these phenophases and help contribute to a better understanding of changing climates.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Tracy Barbaro, Tracy Barbaro |
Source | http://budburst.org/home |