Hokkaido is a place that I have to go in Japan, not necessarily for the fauna, but the Marimo ball. It grows on the base of river, 10m deep, where it's pretty cold and dark. The spherical shape of the ball ensures the lowest surface area to volume ratio. Thus photosynthesis does not work flourishingly like it does on a flat plant leave.
This creature can survive low temperatures, but it does not mean the lower the better. Optimal growth happens on 20 deg C. I want to get one from Hokkaido and cut it in half to see if it's truly like a earthworm that can still survive after that detrimental harm.
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| tamarillo tree (type of a tomato) |
A spherical shape can also be seen in most of other fruits and seeds, like apples, peers, peaches. Fruits are the very nutritious storage room full of water, dissolved minerals and Vitamins. A sphere shape ensures minimum evaporation thus efficient in helping the plant body retain water.
As for some tropical fruits such as Starfruit(carambola), it has a very high surface area to volume ratio, exactly opposite to Marimo and other fruits. This fruit tree grows in rich, moisture soil with full sun. When the fruit is still green, the chlorophyll on the fruit body can take advantage of the high Area to Volume Ratio, to undergo photosynthesis and eventually turning the fruit body to matured yellow.
Marimo is pretty cool, but I think carambola and tomatos are common aren't they?
回复删除yeah and delicious too!
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