Environmental morphing enables informed dispersal of the dandelion diaspore
- School of Biological Sciences, Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Centre for Synthetic and Systems Biology, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- School of Engineering, Institute for Integrated Micro and Nano Systems, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
- James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
- Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biophysics, Bower Building, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
- Ecology & Biodiversity group, Utrecht University, Netherlands
- School of Engineering, Institute for Energy Systems, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, United Kingdom
- Centre for Science at Extreme Conditions, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
Figures
Figure 1 with 1 supplement
Moisture induces reversible closure of the dandelion pappus.
(a) Image of a dry dandelion infructescence, (b) image of a wet dandelion infructescence, (c) schematic of a dandelion diaspore indicating features, and (d) image of dry dandelion pappus (scale bar: …
Figure 1—figure supplement 1
Angles of pappus hairs in dry and humid conditions.
(a) The angle of individual hairs of dandelion pappi. Angle is calculated relative to horizontal in which the dandelion diaspore beak (see Figure 1c) forms the vertical axis, n = 10 pappi, n = 932 …
Figure 2 with 1 supplement
Pappus morphing alters diaspore flight and fluid dynamics.
(a) Falling speed at varying pappus angles, before and after wetting for 1 hr in moisture chamber, asterisks indicate statistically significant difference at p<0.0001, n = 20; (b) relationship …
Figure 2—figure supplement 1
Changes to the diaspore falling velocity and separated vortex ring (SVR) as the pappus angle changes.
(a) Falling velocity reduces as projected area reduces. Projected area calculated using measured pappus angles and assuming hair lengths of 7.41 mm and diameters of 16 μm according to Cummins et …
Figure 3 with 1 supplement
Detachment of diaspores from capitula.
(a) Snapshots of detachment dynamics at 8 m s–1 wind speed for a dry capitulum, air flow direction is from right to left of the images; (b) snapshots of detachment at 8 m s–1 wind speed for a wet …
Figure 3—figure supplement 1
Detachment assay setup and detachment measurements for young capitula and at varying turbulence intensity.
(a) Schematic illustrating experimental setup for detachment assays; (b) survival plot of percentage of fruits attached to capitula at varying wind speeds for 1.7% turbulent intensity flow in dry …
Figure 4 with 2 supplements
Change in pappus angle modifies dispersal according to meteorological conditions.
(a) Relationship between relative humidity and wind speed in Edinburgh, UK. (b) Model descriptions indicating whether dry (relative humidity < 90%), or wet (relative humidity ≥ 90%) weather …
Figure 4—figure supplement 1
The relationship between relative humidity and wind speed in four additional locations.
(a) Manchester, (b) Nottingham, (c) Norwich, and (d) Exeter.
Figure 4—figure supplement 2
Modelled kernel density estimate of predicted dispersal distances for diaspores with a morphing or constantly open pappi in all weather conditions.
(a) Full dispersal kernel with distance plotted on a log10 scale. (b) Dispersal kernel portion from 0 to 10 m dispersal distance, dashed vertical lines indicate medians for the entire dispersal …
