Project properties
Title Bubble Trouble: modeling the obstacles to water flow in cut flowers.
Group Plant Cell Biology, Laboratory of
Project type thesis
Credits 18-39
Supervisor(s) prof. dr. Bela Mulder
Examiner(s) prof. dr. Bela Mulder
Contact info prof. dr. Bela Mulder email: mulder@amolf.nl or Bela.Mulder@wur.nl
Tel: mo-th 020-6081234 fri 0317 483493
Begin date 2008/05/30
End date 2009/12/31
Description Water and nutrients are transported in plant stems by a system of interconnected xylem vessels. Each vessel consists of the remnants of a number of thick-walled cells that have fused into a linear string. There is lateral communication between these vessels through bordered-pit pairs that form pore-like channels between the vessels. The flow through individual vessels can be blocked if they develop an embolism, a trapped bubble of air that closes off the vessel. It is this failure mechanism that effectively limits the vase-life of cut flowers. In this project we will attempt to answer the question, of how the flow through the vessel system depends on the fraction of blocked vessels. We do this by translating this question into the problem of determining the electrical current through a random network of resistors. The connectivity of this network and the magnitude of the resistors will be determined from the known properties of the vessels. A neat and challenging problem that will require some skills in mathematics and programming.
Used skills
Requirements An interest in modelling biological systems and some background in mathematics and programming.