Nature's miniature solar panels: the thermal properties of butterfly wing scales and their evolution

大自然的微型太阳能电池板：蝴蝶翅膀鳞片的热特性及其演化

• 批准号: 2744503
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Sheffield
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2744503
• 关键词: Nature; miniature; solar; panels; thermal

The wings of butterflies are covered in thousands of scalesthat have evolved to serve a range of functions includingaerodynamic efficiency, colour signalling, camouflage,hydrophobicity and thermoregulation. Fundamental tothese functions is the nanostructure of the scales.Interest in organisms' adaptation to their thermalenvironment has grown in recent years as we try tounderstand and predict how organisms will respond toclimate change. Butterflies are one of the best-studiedinsect groups with respect to thermal adaptation. They arealso somewhat unusual in having large, scale-coveredwings, which they use for thermoregulation, both to absorbsolar radiation to warm up and to radiate heat away fromthe body to cool down. While the importance of the wingsfor thermoregulation has been known for some time, onlyrecently has the importance of the wing scalenanostructures begun to be appreciated.

蝴蝶的翅膀上覆盖着成千上万的鳞片，这些鳞片已经进化成一系列功能，包括空气动力学效率、颜色信号、伪装、疏水性和温度调节。这些功能的基础是尺度的纳米结构。近年来，随着我们试图了解和预测生物体将如何应对气候变化，对生物体适应其热环境的兴趣也在增长。蝴蝶是对热适应研究最多的昆虫类群之一。它们也有一些不寻常的大，鳞片覆盖的翅膀，他们用来调节体温，既吸收太阳辐射温暖和辐射热量远离身体降温。虽然翅膀对体温调节的重要性已经被人们所知有一段时间了，但直到最近，人们才开始意识到翅膀上的斜角肌结构的重要性。