Integumental water movement and rate of water ingestion during rain harvesting in the Texas horned lizard, Phrynosoma cornutum

Sherbrooke, Wade C.

doi:10.1163/156853804322992814

Cited by 29 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Hexagonal micro-structuring of surfaces decreases contact angle significantly and results in a super-hydrophilic surface [89], and creates an optimal pattern of capillary water flow [101,102]. Hexagonal array of facets on a spherical plane enhances light interception [103].…”

Section: Opportunities For Manufacturingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Form Follows Environment: Biomimetic Approaches to Building Envelope Design for Environmental Adaptation

Badarnah

2017

Buildings

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Building envelopes represent the interface between the outdoor environment and the indoor occupied spaces. They are often considered as barriers and shields, limiting solutions that adapt to environmental changes. Nature provides a large database of adaptation strategies that can be implemented in design in general, and in the design of building envelopes in particular. Biomimetics, where solutions are obtained by emulating strategies from nature, is a rapidly growing design discipline in engineering, and an emerging field in architecture. This paper presents a biomimetic approach to facilitate the generation of design concepts, and enhance the development of building envelopes that are better suited to their environments. Morphology plays a significant role in the way systems adapt to environmental conditions, and provides a multi-functional interface to regulate heat, air, water, and light. In this work, we emphasize the functional role of morphology for environmental adaptation, where distinct morphologies, corresponding processes, their underlying mechanisms, and potential applications to buildings are distinguished. Emphasizing this morphological contribution to environmental adaptation would enable designers to apply a proper morphology for a desired environmental process, hence promoting the development of adaptive solutions for building envelopes.

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Section: Opportunities For Manufacturingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Form Follows Environment: Biomimetic Approaches to Building Envelope Design for Environmental Adaptation

Badarnah

2017

Buildings

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“…Special surface micro-structures of the Oberhäutchen (i.e. outer layer of epidermis) and small capillary channels in between the scales allow these so-called 'moistureharvesting' lizards to collect water into their skin capillaries and transport it to their mouth for drinking (Gans et al, 1982;Withers, 1993;Sherbrooke, 2004;Sherbrooke et al, 2007;Comanns et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…falling rain and surface water puddles, but likely occur infrequently and irregularly. Based on their stereotypic skin drinking posture, Phrynosoma, Trapelus and Phrynocephalus likely specialize on drinking rain water (Schwenk and Greene, 1987;Sherbrooke, 1993Sherbrooke, , 2004Veselý and Modrý, 2002). Water puddles are probably an effective water source for M. horridus, although they are not commonly found in their sandy habitat (Pianka and Pianka, 1970;Gans et al, 1982;Withers, 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Water puddles are probably an effective water source for M. horridus, although they are not commonly found in their sandy habitat (Pianka and Pianka, 1970;Gans et al, 1982;Withers, 1993). Thorny devils and horned lizards placed in a water puddle readily uptake water via capillary channels, which they subsequently drink (Bentley and Blumer, 1962;Withers, 1993;Sherbrooke, 2004). These strategies for water uptake require that the lizard remains relatively immobile for an extended period of time, during which they drink using periodic mouth movements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…So far, only overall weight gain during water uptake has been used to demonstrate capillary filling and water ingestion by thorny devils (Bentley and Blumer, 1962;Sherbrooke, 1993Sherbrooke, , 2004Withers, 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cutaneous water collection by a moisture-harvesting lizard, the thorny devil (Moloch horridus)

Comanns

Withers

Esser

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Moisture-harvesting lizards, such as the Australian thorny devil, Moloch horridus, have the remarkable ability to inhabit arid regions. Special skin structures, comprising a micro-structured surface with capillary channels in between imbricate overlapping scales, enable the lizard to collect water by capillarity and transport it to the mouth for ingestion. The ecological role of this mechanism is the acquisition of water from various possible sources such as rainfall, puddles, dew, condensation on the skin, or absorption from moist sand, and we evaluate here the potential of these various sources for water uptake by M. horridus. The water volume required to fill the skin capillary system is 3.19% of body mass. Thorny devils standing in water can fill their capillary system and then drink from this water, at approximately 0.7 µl per jaw movement. Thorny devils standing on nearly saturated moist sand could only fill the capillary channels to 59% of their capacity, and did not drink. However, placing moist sand on skin replicas showed that the capillary channels could be filled from moist sand when assisted by gravity, suggesting that their field behaviour of shovelling moist sand onto the dorsal skin might fill the capillary channels and enable drinking. Condensation facilitated by thermal disequilibrium between a cool thorny devil and warm moist air provided skin capillary filling to approximately 0.22% of body weight, which was insufficient for drinking. Our results suggest that rain and moist sand seem to be ecologically likely water sources for M. horridus on a regular basis.

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Phylogenetic and morphological influence on habitat choice in moisture‐harvesting horned lizards (Phrynosoma spp.)

Joel

Linde

Comanns

et al. 2021

Ecology and Evolution

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In previous studies, the superhydrophilic skin of moisture-harvesting lizards has been linked to the morphological traits of the lizards' integument, that is, the occurrence of honeycomb-shaped microstructures. Interestingly, these structures can also cover the skin of lizards inhabiting wet habitats. We therefore tested the influence of the microstructures' main features on the habitat choice and wettability in the genus Phrynosoma. The genus Phrynosoma comprises moisture-harvesting species as well as nonspecialists. Lizards of this genus inhabit large areas of North America with diverse climatic conditions. Remarkably, the differences in the manifestation of microstructures are just as versatile as their surroundings. The phylogeny of the lizards as well as the depth of their ventral microstructures, though independent of each other, correlated with the precipitation in their respective habitat. All other morphological traits, as well as the skin's wettability itself, could not predict the habitat of Phrynosoma species. Hence, it is unlikely that the microstructure influences the wettability, at least directly. Hence, we presume an indirect influence for the following reasons: (a) As the ventral side cannot get wet by rain, but the belly could easily interact with a wet surface, the microstructure might facilitate water absorption from wet soil following precipitation. (b) We found the number of dorsal microstructures to be linked to the occurrence of silt in the habitat. In our study, we observed scales being heavily contaminated, most likely with a mixture of dead skin (after shedding) and silt.As many lizards burrow themselves or even shovel sand onto their backs, deploying the substrate might be a mechanism to increase the skin's wettability.

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Integumental water movement and rate of water ingestion during rain harvesting in the Texas horned lizard, Phrynosoma cornutum

Cited by 29 publications

References 14 publications

Form Follows Environment: Biomimetic Approaches to Building Envelope Design for Environmental Adaptation

Form Follows Environment: Biomimetic Approaches to Building Envelope Design for Environmental Adaptation

Cutaneous water collection by a moisture-harvesting lizard, the thorny devil (Moloch horridus)

Phylogenetic and morphological influence on habitat choice in moisture‐harvesting horned lizards (Phrynosoma spp.)

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