Active shape control by plants in dynamic environments

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Oliveri, Hadrien, Moulton, Derek E., Harrington, Heather A., Goriely, Alain
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2023
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author Oliveri, Hadrien
Moulton, Derek E.
Harrington, Heather A.
Goriely, Alain
author_facet Oliveri, Hadrien
Moulton, Derek E.
Harrington, Heather A.
Goriely, Alain
contents Plants are a paradigm for active shape control in response to stimuli. For instance, it is well-known that a tilted plant will eventually straighten vertically, demonstrating the influence of both an external stimulus, gravity, and an internal stimulus, proprioception. These effects can be modulated when a potted plant is additionally rotated along the plant's axis, as in a rotating clinostat, leading to intricate shapes. We use a morphoelastic model for the response of growing plants to study the joint effect of both stimuli at all rotation speeds. In the absence of rotation, we identify a universal planar shape towards which all shoots eventually converge. With rotation, we demonstrate the existence of a stable family of three-dimensional dynamic equilibria where the plant axis is fixed in space. Further, the effect of axial growth is to induce steady behaviors, such as solitary waves. Overall, this study offers new insight into the complex out-of-equilibrium dynamics of a plant in three dimensions and further establishes that internal stimuli in active materials are key for robust shape control.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2309_08950
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Active shape control by plants in dynamic environments
Oliveri, Hadrien
Moulton, Derek E.
Harrington, Heather A.
Goriely, Alain
Biological Physics
92-10, 92B99
Plants are a paradigm for active shape control in response to stimuli. For instance, it is well-known that a tilted plant will eventually straighten vertically, demonstrating the influence of both an external stimulus, gravity, and an internal stimulus, proprioception. These effects can be modulated when a potted plant is additionally rotated along the plant's axis, as in a rotating clinostat, leading to intricate shapes. We use a morphoelastic model for the response of growing plants to study the joint effect of both stimuli at all rotation speeds. In the absence of rotation, we identify a universal planar shape towards which all shoots eventually converge. With rotation, we demonstrate the existence of a stable family of three-dimensional dynamic equilibria where the plant axis is fixed in space. Further, the effect of axial growth is to induce steady behaviors, such as solitary waves. Overall, this study offers new insight into the complex out-of-equilibrium dynamics of a plant in three dimensions and further establishes that internal stimuli in active materials are key for robust shape control.
title Active shape control by plants in dynamic environments
topic Biological Physics
92-10, 92B99
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.08950