Optical & physical properties of flowers & stems: UV to IR & surface texture adaptations for little-known thermal relations in plant growth and reproduction

植物的生物物理和光学特性决定了花和草本茎在授粉、吸引传粉者、发育、生长、成熟和有性生殖的内部小气候等方面的功能。提出的跨学科研究，包括功能植物形态学在有机体，组织和细胞水平。这与微气象学、从紫外到红外的光学生物物理学以及通过标准仪器进行的测温相结合，构成了一种新的、跨学科的植物学方法，并在共同进化生态学中产生了分支。******花的特征体现了植物与传粉者的共同适应。宏观和微观特征通过授粉者的感官（视觉、化学和触觉）感知来发挥作用。颜色通常与气味和表皮微结构特征相关联。它们一起提供镜面（镜面）到哑光（漫射）反射，也许还有虹彩和荧光。表皮或叶肉组织、细胞器（质体）或原生质溶液中的色素对着色效果有不同的影响（Kubelk-Munk模型）。此外，许多花通过日晒而变暖，这有助于生长和成熟，并被授粉昆虫利用。最著名的是反日向（太阳跟踪）碗形花作为反射太阳炉。鲜为人知的是在封闭的和短柔毛的花中的微热状态。据推测，日照可以穿透半透明的结构，加热内部结构，重新辐射出被困住的红外线，形成一个微温室。中空草本茎作为微温室的热/光学生物物理学也构成了类似的新研究。初步数据（2017年）表明，空心现象很常见（约120种取样草本植物中有2/3），这种茎（测试的5种）会被高于环境5-6℃的温度加热。******关于花和茎的热/光学生物物理学的拟议研究将通过观察和实验，研究植物结构内微热环境（由小型温度传感器和红外热成像测量）的发生率和程度，以及它们在自然和受控条件下对生长、成熟和生殖输出的影响。生物物理机制将通过显微镜和组织学结合(紫外-可见-近红外反射/吸收分光光度法（包括透明度，半透明性，荧光等），发射率，导热性检查选定的植物。对不同植物和植物结构的这些特征进行量化，将允许对植物组织的比色、结构、解剖和热特性进行比较评估，这些特性与植物在不同栖息地、一天和一年的不同时间对自然辐射能的不同（可能是不同的）使用的适应性意义有关。

Biophysical and optical properties contribute to functionality of flowers and herbaceous stems in pollination, pollinator attraction, interior microclimate for development, growth, maturation and sexual reproduction. The proposed interdisciplinary research, embraces functional plant morphology at organismic, tissue and cellular levels. That, coupled with micrometeorology, optical biophysics from UV to IR, and thermometry through standard instrumentation, constitutes a new, interdisciplinary approach in botany with ramifications in co-evolutionary ecology. ******Floral features embody plant-pollinator co-adaptations. Macro- and microscopic features work via sensory (visual, chemical and tactile) perception by pollinators. Colours are often coupled to scent and epidermal microtextural features. Together they provide mirror-like (specular) to matte (diffused) reflections and perhaps iridescence and fluorescence. Pigments in epidermal or mesophyllic tissues, in organelles (plastids) or in protoplasmic solution, variously influence effectiveness in coloration (Kubelk-Munk models). Further, many flowers warm by insolation that aids growth and maturation and, as used by flower-basking pollinators. Best known are diaheliotropic (sun-tracking) bowl-shaped flowers as reflective solar furnaces. Less understood are microthermic regimes in enclosed and pubescent blossoms. Presumably insolation penetrates translucent structures, heats interior structures which re-radiate IR that becomes trapped, a microgreenhouse. Thermal/optical biophysics of hollow herbaceous stems acting as microgreenhouses constitutes similarly novel research. Preliminary data (2017) indicate that hollowness is common (2/3 of ca. 120 herb species sampled) and such stems (5 species tested) become heated by 5-6 C above ambient. ******The proposed research on the thermal/optical biophysics of flowers and stems will examine, through observation and experimentation, the incidence and extent of microthermic environments (measured by small temperature sensors and IR thermal imaging) within plant structures and their influences on growth, maturation and reproductive output under natural and controlled conditions. Biophysical mechanisms will be examined in selected plants through microscopy and histology combined with (UV-visible-near IR reflectance/absorbance spectrophotometry (to include transparency, translucence, fluorescence etc.), emissivity, thermal conductivity. Quantification of those characteristics in different plants and plant structures will allow for comparative assessments of colorimetric, structural, anatomical, and thermal properties of plant tissues associated with the adaptive significance of plants' differential, and presumably varying, usages of natural radiant energy in various habitats and at different times of day and year.