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The success of seedlings and rejuvenated woody debris growing on river bedforms depends on the resistance to uprooting by flow provided by their simple root architecture. Avena sativa and Medicago sativa seedlings were used in flume experiments as prototypes for juvenile riparian plants. Very little is known about the magnitude of root anchoring forces and the role of secondary roots of such simple root systems. We performed 1550 vertical uprooting experiments on Avena sativa and Medicago sativa seedlings grown in quartz sand. Seedlings were pulled up by direct traction using a wheel driven by a computer‐controlled motor and the force was recorded. Roots were scanned and architectural parameters (root length and number of roots) determined. Uprooting force and work (the integral of the applied force times the distance over which it is applied) were then related to root architecture and soil variables. Resistance to uprooting increased with decreasing sediment size and sediment moisture content. The initial response of the root–soil system to uprooting showed linear elastic behaviour with modulus increasing with plant age. While the maximum uprooting force was found to increase linearly with total root length and be mainly dependent on the length of the main root, uprooting work followed a power law and has to be related to the whole root system. Thus, for the young plants we considered, secondary roots are responsible for the ability to withstand environmental disturbances in terms of duration rather than magnitude. This distinction between primary and secondary roots can be of crucial importance for seedlings of riparian species germinating on river bars and islands where inundation is a main cause of mortality. Beyond clarifying the biomechanical role of soil and root variables, the uprooting statistics obtained are useful in interpreting and designing ecomorphodynamic flume experiments. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Tendons attach muscles to bone and thereby transmit tensile forces during joint movement. However, a detailed understanding of the mechanisms that establish the mechanical properties of tendon has remained elusive because of the practical difficulties of studying tissue mechanics in vivo. Here we have performed a study of tendon-like constructs made by culturing embryonic tendon cells in fixed-length fibrin gels. The constructs display mechanical properties (toe–linear–fail stress–strain curve, stiffness, ultimate tensile strength, and failure strain) as well as collagen fibril volume fraction and extracellular matrix (ECM)/cell ratio that are statistically similar to those of embryonic chick metatarsal tendons. The development of mechanical properties during time in culture was abolished when the constructs were treated separately with Triton X-100 (to solubilise membranes), cytochalasin (to disassemble the actin cytoskeleton) and blebbistatin (a small molecule inhibitor of non-muscle myosin II). Importantly, these treatments had no effect on the mechanical properties of the constructs that existed prior to treatment. Live-cell imaging and 14C-proline metabolic labeling showed that blebbistatin inhibited the contraction of the constructs without affecting cell viability, procollagen synthesis, or conversion of procollagen to collagen. In conclusion, the mechanical properties per se of the tendon constructs are attributable to the ECM generated by the cells but the improvement of mechanical properties during time in culture was dependent on non-muscle myosin II-derived forces.

Previous studies have shown that root system asymmetry can greatly affect the stability of trees. In this study mechanical investigations of the stability and anchorage symmetry of suppressed crown Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) trees growing in clay soil were combined with morphological investigation of the lateral root system. It was found that most of the trees showed different resistance to pulling forces from different directions (anchorage asymmetry) which, however, was not correlated with lateral root system asymmetry. This suggested that the lateral roots were not major components of anchorage, a finding supported by scaling data and by visual observation of uprooting. Instead, tap and sinker roots probably provided the majority of anchorage, and their non-circular shape must have caused the anchorage asymmetry. Root system asymmetry was more common in trees on the edge of the stand than in trees inside the stand, a fact probably related to the reduced root competition outside the stand.