The fern cavitation catapult: mechanism and design principles

Journal of the Royal Society, Interface
C LlorensX Noblin

Abstract

Leptosporangiate ferns have evolved an ingenious cavitation catapult to disperse their spores. The mechanism relies almost entirely on the annulus, a row of 12-25 cells, which successively: (i) stores energy by evaporation of the cells' content, (ii) triggers the catapult by internal cavitation, and (iii) controls the time scales of energy release to ensure efficient spore ejection. The confluence of these three biomechanical functions within the confines of a single structure suggests a level of sophistication that goes beyond most man-made devices where specific structures or parts rarely serve more than one function. Here, we study in detail the three phases of spore ejection in the sporangia of the fern Polypodium aureum. For each of these phases, we have written the governing equations and measured the key parameters. For the opening of the sporangium, we show that the structural design of the annulus is particularly well suited to inducing bending deformations in response to osmotic volume changes. Moreover, the measured parameters for the osmoelastic design lead to a near-optimal speed of spore ejection (approx. 10 m s(-1)). Our analysis of the trigger mechanism by cavitation points to a critical cavitation pressure of a...Continue Reading

References

May 28, 2005·Science·Jan M Skotheim, L Mahadevan
Jul 15, 1944·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·A L King
May 12, 2011·Integrative and Comparative Biology·Patrick T MartoneThomas Speck
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Citations

Feb 9, 2018·Soft Matter·Michele CuratoloLuciano Teresi
Aug 23, 2017·Soft Matter·Matt P MilnerShelby B Hutchens
Jul 7, 2018·Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences : Official Journal of the European Photochemistry Association and the European Society for Photobiology·Sasha MadronichRichard L McKenzie
Sep 13, 2018·Soft Matter·Chiara ScognamiglioXavier Noblin
May 22, 2019·Journal of Experimental Botany·Richard J Morris, Mark Blyth
Aug 28, 2020·Journal of the Royal Society, Interface·Anja MaderOlga Speck
Jan 7, 2021·Soft Matter·Myrthe A BruningAlvaro Marin
Nov 17, 2020·Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces and Colloids·Mathieu PellegrinXavier Noblin

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