Table of Contents
Evolution and Systematics
Functional Adaptations
Functional adaptation
Arrangement allows self-cushioning: spittle bug
"Bubbles are commonly encountered in nature, across many phyla and habitats—from the slimy protective bubbles of the spittle bugs to the bubble eggs of many water-loving vertebrates, including many species of fish and amphibians, particularly frogs. Bubbles serve as insulation, moisturizer, and protection from predators. Spittle bugs use recycled sap from grass stems converted to a soapy liquid that they pump into foamy bubbles using their tails…Frog eggs and spittle bug bubbles self-cushion when packed in an array and naturally leave little air amongst them. This is because nature’s bubbles join according to three principles of soap bubble geometry. First, a compound bubble consists of flat or smoothly curved surfaces joined together. Second, the surfaces meet in only two ways: either three surfaces merge along a curve (edge), or six surfaces at a vertex. Third, when surfaces come together at a curve, or curves and surfaces at a point, they do so at equal angles. These three principles allow bubbles to eliminate air space between their flexible membranes, thereby optimally packing spheres." (Biomimicry Guild unpublished report)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
The bubbles of spittle bugs and other organisms self-cushion due to the principles of soap bubble geometry.
"Bubbles are commonly encountered in nature, across many phyla and habitats—from the slimy protective bubbles of the spittle bugs to the bubble eggs of many water-loving vertebrates, including many species of fish and amphibians, particularly frogs. Bubbles serve as insulation, moisturizer, and protection from predators. Spittle bugs use recycled sap from grass stems converted to a soapy liquid that they pump into foamy bubbles using their tails…Frog eggs and spittle bug bubbles self-cushion when packed in an array and naturally leave little air amongst them. This is because nature’s bubbles join according to three principles of soap bubble geometry. First, a compound bubble consists of flat or smoothly curved surfaces joined together. Second, the surfaces meet in only two ways: either three surfaces merge along a curve (edge), or six surfaces at a vertex. Third, when surfaces come together at a curve, or curves and surfaces at a point, they do so at equal angles. These three principles allow bubbles to eliminate air space between their flexible membranes, thereby optimally packing spheres." (Biomimicry Guild unpublished report)
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Functional adaptation
Foam provides thermal and moisture control: spittlebug
"This lightweight, translucent shell provides heat insulation, acting as a kind of ornate greenhouse. According to the designers, a fifth of the incident solar energy will be trapped to heat the interior and the pools themselves. During the day, enough sunlight penetrates the roof to cut lighting costs by more than half, relative to conventional pool halls. And the aim is to capture and recycle 80% of the water falling on the roof or lost from the pools. The Water Cube thus embodies a spirit of water conservation that is becoming increasingly pertinent to northern China, where water scarcity is approaching a crisis that has prompted an awesomely ambitious and costly project to reroute water from the Yangtze River for more than 1,000 kilometres…The foam principle also makes the Water Cube part of the tradition of biomimetic architecture, evoking the bee's honeycomb (whose double layer of interlocking cells has also posed a long-standing problem in surface minimization) and the spittle bug's use of a foam to protect its larvae from predators." (Ball 2007:256)
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The larvae of spittlebugs are protected from temperature and moisture fluctuations via a frothed-up plant sap covering.
"This lightweight, translucent shell provides heat insulation, acting as a kind of ornate greenhouse. According to the designers, a fifth of the incident solar energy will be trapped to heat the interior and the pools themselves. During the day, enough sunlight penetrates the roof to cut lighting costs by more than half, relative to conventional pool halls. And the aim is to capture and recycle 80% of the water falling on the roof or lost from the pools. The Water Cube thus embodies a spirit of water conservation that is becoming increasingly pertinent to northern China, where water scarcity is approaching a crisis that has prompted an awesomely ambitious and costly project to reroute water from the Yangtze River for more than 1,000 kilometres…The foam principle also makes the Water Cube part of the tradition of biomimetic architecture, evoking the bee's honeycomb (whose double layer of interlocking cells has also posed a long-standing problem in surface minimization) and the spittle bug's use of a foam to protect its larvae from predators." (Ball 2007:256)
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- Ball, P. 2007. Beijing Bubbles. Nature. 448: 256.
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Functional adaptation
Legs power high jumps: spittle bug
"British researchers say experiments show the spittle bug — a tiny, green insect that sucks the juice from alfalfa and clover — can leap more than 2 feet in the air. That's more than twice as high as the flea, and equivalent to a man jumping over the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, scientists said. 'We've all been brought up on fleas as being the best performers. It turns out that, really, they're not,' said Malcolm Burrows, a zoologist at the University of Cambridge and the study's lead researcher…Burrows said the finding is remarkable because the 6-millimeter-long spittle bug — about the size of a pencil eraser — is bigger and heavier than the bloodsucking flea, yet still able to outjump its tiny rival by accelerating faster. The spittle bug reaches its heights by unleashing the large amount of stored energy in its muscular hind legs. When it is not jumping, it uses its smaller forelegs to move around while dragging its hind legs, which are constantly poised for liftoff. During takeoff, the spittle bug accelerates at more than 400 times the force of gravity, versus 135 times for a flea." (Associated Press 2003)
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The hind legs of spittle bugs help them jump high and accelerate rapidly using energy stored in an elastic protein called resilin.
"British researchers say experiments show the spittle bug — a tiny, green insect that sucks the juice from alfalfa and clover — can leap more than 2 feet in the air. That's more than twice as high as the flea, and equivalent to a man jumping over the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, scientists said. 'We've all been brought up on fleas as being the best performers. It turns out that, really, they're not,' said Malcolm Burrows, a zoologist at the University of Cambridge and the study's lead researcher…Burrows said the finding is remarkable because the 6-millimeter-long spittle bug — about the size of a pencil eraser — is bigger and heavier than the bloodsucking flea, yet still able to outjump its tiny rival by accelerating faster. The spittle bug reaches its heights by unleashing the large amount of stored energy in its muscular hind legs. When it is not jumping, it uses its smaller forelegs to move around while dragging its hind legs, which are constantly poised for liftoff. During takeoff, the spittle bug accelerates at more than 400 times the force of gravity, versus 135 times for a flea." (Associated Press 2003)
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- Associated Press. 7/30/2003. Study finds spittle bug can jump twice the height of a flea. USA Today. Health and Behavior.
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Functional adaptation
Optimally packing spheres: spittle bug
"Bubbles are commonly encountered in nature, across many phyla and habitats—from the slimy protective bubbles of the spittle bugs to the bubble eggs of many water-loving vertebrates, including many species of fish and amphibians, particularly frogs. Bubbles serve as insulation, moisturizer, and protection from predators. Spittle bugs use recycled sap from grass stems converted to a soapy liquid that they pump into foamy bubbles using their tails…Frog eggs and spittle bug bubbles self-cushion when packed in an array and naturally leave little air amongst them. This is because nature’s bubbles join according to three principles of soap bubble geometry. First, a compound bubble consists of flat or smoothly curved surfaces joined together. Second, the surfaces meet in only two ways: either three surfaces merge along a curve (edge), or six surfaces at a vertex. Third, when surfaces come together at a curve, or curves and surfaces at a point, they do so at equal angles. These three principles allow bubbles to eliminate air space between their flexible membranes, thereby optimally packing spheres." (Biomimicry Guild unpublished report)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
The bubbles produced by spittle bugs and other organisms are spheres that are packed optimally because bubble geometry eliminates air between their surfaces.
"Bubbles are commonly encountered in nature, across many phyla and habitats—from the slimy protective bubbles of the spittle bugs to the bubble eggs of many water-loving vertebrates, including many species of fish and amphibians, particularly frogs. Bubbles serve as insulation, moisturizer, and protection from predators. Spittle bugs use recycled sap from grass stems converted to a soapy liquid that they pump into foamy bubbles using their tails…Frog eggs and spittle bug bubbles self-cushion when packed in an array and naturally leave little air amongst them. This is because nature’s bubbles join according to three principles of soap bubble geometry. First, a compound bubble consists of flat or smoothly curved surfaces joined together. Second, the surfaces meet in only two ways: either three surfaces merge along a curve (edge), or six surfaces at a vertex. Third, when surfaces come together at a curve, or curves and surfaces at a point, they do so at equal angles. These three principles allow bubbles to eliminate air space between their flexible membranes, thereby optimally packing spheres." (Biomimicry Guild unpublished report)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
© The Biomimicry Institute
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AskNature
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Functional adaptation
Bubbles protect against predators: spittle bug
"Bubbles are commonly encountered in nature, across many phyla and habitats—from the slimy protective bubbles of the spittle bugs to the bubble eggs of many water-loving vertebrates, including many species of fish and amphibians, particularly frogs. Bubbles serve as insulation, moisturizer, and protection from predators. Spittle bugs use recycled sap from grass stems converted to a soapy liquid that they pump into foamy bubbles using their tails…Frog eggs and spittle bug bubbles self-cushion when packed in an array and naturally leave little air amongst them. This is because nature’s bubbles join according to three principles of soap bubble geometry. First, a compound bubble consists of flat or smoothly curved surfaces joined together. Second, the surfaces meet in only two ways: either three surfaces merge along a curve (edge), or six surfaces at a vertex. Third, when surfaces come together at a curve, or curves and surfaces at a point, they do so at equal angles. These three principles allow bubbles to eliminate air space between their flexible membranes, thereby optimally packing spheres." (Biomimicry Guild unpublished report)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
Spittle bugs hide from predators within a froth of bubbles they produce.
"Bubbles are commonly encountered in nature, across many phyla and habitats—from the slimy protective bubbles of the spittle bugs to the bubble eggs of many water-loving vertebrates, including many species of fish and amphibians, particularly frogs. Bubbles serve as insulation, moisturizer, and protection from predators. Spittle bugs use recycled sap from grass stems converted to a soapy liquid that they pump into foamy bubbles using their tails…Frog eggs and spittle bug bubbles self-cushion when packed in an array and naturally leave little air amongst them. This is because nature’s bubbles join according to three principles of soap bubble geometry. First, a compound bubble consists of flat or smoothly curved surfaces joined together. Second, the surfaces meet in only two ways: either three surfaces merge along a curve (edge), or six surfaces at a vertex. Third, when surfaces come together at a curve, or curves and surfaces at a point, they do so at equal angles. These three principles allow bubbles to eliminate air space between their flexible membranes, thereby optimally packing spheres." (Biomimicry Guild unpublished report)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
© The Biomimicry Institute
Source:
AskNature
Trusted
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